The Mystery of Moonlight
by silverwolf of the night
Summary: Two girls literally fall out of the sky at Captain Jack's feet and finds them to be entwined in his past more deeply than they know... set during the Curse of the Black Pearl complete
1. Prologue

A/N We are idiots! This is a joint written story (my co-author is Arlen halfelven) and this story was written mostly in P.E.! We have edited parts of the Curse of the Black Pearl, so bear with us! This is only the first of FIVE books. That's right, five! We already have book four written and a giood chunk of this and book two, so stick with us! It should be worth your while!... we hope.

Disclaimer We don't own it! So don't sue! We're a pair of broke teenagers! THESE CHARACTERS ARE NOT MARY SUES. THEY DO NOT FALL IN LOVE WITH EITHER JACK OR WILL (such a shame...) SO IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR THAT KIND OF STORY, YA WON'T FIND IT HERE! Sorry, mates!

Plot Two girls wuite literally fall out of the sky at Captain Jack's feet and finds them to be entwined in his past more deeply than they know... (set during the Curse of the Black Pearl)

Prologue

"What do we have for lunch?" Arlen asked.

"The usual, Arlen." Liash relied, digging through her backpack. "Fruit by the foot, lemonade, sandwich, Fritos, and Nutter Butter Peanut Butter bits."

"NUTTERBUTTERPEANUTBUTTERBITES!" Arlen squealed, eating her very sour apple sauce.

"But not until lunch." Liash warned.

"Li I have the pirate song stuck in my head!" she whined. Liash slapped her forehead.

"Which one!" she groaned.

"Uh, uh, uh, uh..." Arlen stammered. "He's A Pirate." she whined more. Together they began to sing the beat of the song. They began to get carried away with it getting louder and louder. Things began to swirl around and around and around them...

SLAM! They hit the deck with frightening force.

"OWWWWW!" they screamed.

"My arm! Liash howled.

"My a-" Arlen stopped mid-word and stared at the man next to them. She blinked rapidly and then turned to Liash.

"It's raining women." the man noted sarcastically before diving gracefully into the water.

"Was that-" Arlen started.

"Captain-" Liash continued.

"JACK SPARROW?" they cried as one. They turned to one another, "PINCH ME!" They screamed, pinching each other. "OW!"

"Guess not!" said Liash weakly.

"What do we do now?" Arlen squeaked.

"Follow the Captain!" Liash cried courageously.

Without thinking they dove into the water. Arlen immediately began to sink because of her numerous binders. With a yelp she began to tread the water furiously in an attempt to stay above. Captain Jack gave them a funny look as he swam by with a woman in his arms. He threw her on deck and unceremoniously yanked them out of the water and threw them next to her.

"What were we thinking?" gasped Liash.

"We WEREN'T thinking!" Arlen growled.

"Sorry but I wanted to go for a swim!" Liash defended.

"With our backpacks?" Arlen dryly asked.

"Good excursive" Liash cried. They froze and stared at each other.

"OUR LUNCHES!" They screamed, throwing their backpacks off and rummaging through them. As they pulled them out, the bottoms fell through and all the their food spilled out.

"Aw shit." Arlen groaned. The woman looked at them, appalled.

"Excuse me," she said in an English accent. "But why are you wearing men's clothes and speaking men's language?

"What?" Liash asked, clearly confused. They froze, feeling their necks prickle.

"Uhhhhh... I think they're all staring at us." Arlen squeaked. Slowly they turned, widening their eyes and mouths falling open when they saw al the guards behind them. They gulped.

"Hahahahahaha, hi?" they laughed nervously. Suddenly a guard cried out.

"THERE HE GOES!" He cried pointing after the fleeing Jack Sparrow. While their eyes, and rifles, were on the escaping pirate, Liash and Arlen began to sneak away, towards Will's blacksmith shop. Unfortunately, Arlen's backpack was full of water, as were both of their shoes, so with every step they took the guards heard SLOSH, SLOSH, SLOSH! They didn't begin to pursue them though for their eyes were on a black-sailed ship sailing into harbor... 


	2. The Strangest Beginning

A/N The craziness continues! hee hee... Arlen: I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M POSTING THIS! Black Wolf: GET OVER IT! Arlen: whimper

Chapter One: The Strangest Beginning

Just as Li and Arlen closed the door, a sword flew in between them and into the lock, vibrating with the force. Their eyes widened to the size of dinner plates, and Liash fell against the door, clutching her stomach. Arlen gave a little scream and fell onto her huge backpack, causing water to squirt out.

"Arlen! I didn't need another swim!" Liash cried. Will let out his breath when he saw them argue; he had feared that he had hurt them.

"And I didn't need a bloody sword flying in my face!" Arlen howled, kicking her legs and flailing her arms in attempt to get up. In doing so she looked, hysterically, like a turtle on its back. Liash laughed until she doubled over in pain, while Will and Jack looked confused. Still trying to stop laughing, Liash bent to help Arlen up. As she raised her friend off the ground a couple inches, she toppled forward with the weight of her backpack.

"Arlen! Take your damn backpack off!" Liash scolded.

"O!" Arlen said.

She slid her arms out of the straps and Liash extends her hand. As Arlen grasps Liash's hand. Liash speaks.

"Hurry up Arlen! My wrist itches like hell!" Liash complained, yanking Arlen to her feet and consequently hurling her to the floor behind her. Ignoring her friend's threats and yells, she examines her wrist after much scratching! She gasped when she saw the tattoo of a P. When she pulled the sleeve back further, she noticed another tattoo! One of a raising sun over the ocean, a ship, and a wolf head.

"Uhhhhh... Arlen? Trouble?" she squeaked. Will and Captain Jack looked at her curiously.

"Where?" they ask.

"Uhhhh... "Arlen tackled Liash from behind, throwing her to the ground and holding her behind her back and sitting on her back.

"Why did you throw meh-" Arlen stops mid-word when she sees the tattoos. "Li you have a tatt-uh-" Once more she is cut off as Liash flips over and sits on her stomach, putting her hand over her friend's mouth.

"SHUT UP!" she cries, and Arlen gives an indignant grunt.

"OW! YOU DIDN'T NEED TO BITE ME!" Liash howled releasing her comrade to nurse her wound. As Arlen leapt to her feet, Liash notices for the first time that their cloths have changed again. Arlen is wearing a brown corset-like vest and an off-white tunic with billowing sleeves. She is also wearing brown leather breeches with white stockings and black buckle boots. Liash is wearing a three-quarter sleeved tunic of the same color as Arlen's with a black leather vest that had a slightly more masculine touch and a silver design winding up the right side of the leather. Her lower body was the same as Arlen except that the breeches were black.

"Our clothes changed!" Arlen cried.

"Thank you for stating the obvious." Captain Jack snorts. Arlen stuck her tongue out at him.

"That's mature." Will said sarcastically sheathing his sword.

"Is it pick-on-Arlen-day?" Arlen cries angrily.

"Of course, don't you remember? Yesterday it was pick-on-Liash-day!" Liash commented as she stood.

"No actually, I don't remember. Everything is getting all fuzzy..." Arlen rubs her forehead wearily, and from the angle she stands at Liash alone can see the tattoo on Arlen's wrist.

"Arlen c'mere." She said quietly. She stands with her back to Will and Captain Jack, then pulls back the sleeve of Arlen's tunic to examine the tattoo: it is a rising moon with a pirate ship in front of it. On top of it is a large four point star and below it is a separate tattoo depicting a P. Arlen lowered Liash's wrist next to hers and compared them.

"Pirates!" they whisper in alarm. Although they hadn't noticed, Captain Jack had been sneaking up on them. As Will strained to see what was going on, he stumbled and nearly fell, causing Arlen and Li to look away as Jack came up behind them.

"Pirates!" Jack cried when he saw their wrists.

"WHERE?" Arlen and Li cry at once yanking their wrists behind them and backing quickly away from Jack.

"Oh, oh it was a joke! Haha, nice one there Captain Jack!" Li laughed nervously, obviously trying to cover.

"Oh yes, a bloody good ol' knee-slapper!" Arlen joins in. Now Will has begun to sneak up behind them, and gasps when he sees the tattoos.

"Pirates!" He hisses distastefully , his hand going to the hilt of his sword.

"AHHHH!" Li and Arlen screamed, jumping in the air and turning so they land back to back. 'How did we know that?' they mouth to one another, then shrug.

"You know this joke REALLY isn't funny anymore!" Liash whimpered.

"Yeah..." Arlen agrees fervently, eyeing Will's sword. "Definitely not funny anymore!"

"Hold on.'" Jack begins to advance on them, crossing on foot in front of the other and watching them closely. Frantically, Liash begins to back up into Arlen, forcing her backwards. Arlen stomps on Li's foot.

"Ow, what was that for!" she cries.

"Don't back me up into him! He has a sword." Arlen cries.

"Well he has a gun!" Li shoots back, watching Jack's pistol nervously.

"A pistol with one shot." Arlen snorts.

"That shot could kill us both of us!" Li snarls.

"How did you know about my pistol. Not to mention how you know my name?" Captain Jack pointed his gun at each of them in turn, causing them to squirm in fear.

"We don't know!" Li cried in distressed defense.

"Yea!" Arlen nodded eagerly.

"I don't trust any of you." Will growled, his sword half out of its sheath. Suddenly, deep-throated cannons boomed out in the Port, causing the ground o shiver. Captain Jack unexpectedly lost interest in the two girls and listened carefully.

"I know those cannons!" He wasted no time in darting to the window to look out. "I's the Pearl..." He whispered ardently.

"The what?" Liash asked with a frown. Without warning, shackles were slapped on the two of them. With a yelp, Captain Jack tries to run, but Will tackles him and puts some on him too.

"Like I said, I don't trust you." Will said grimly. He jerked the sword out of the door and put it away on the wall. grabbing a small axe instead. "I'll be back for you pirates." Will spat the word with disgust before leaving and locking the door.

-x-

As the battle raged quite loudly outside, Captain Jack, Li, and Arlen sat and stared at each other. Silently, suddenly and with characteristic randomness, Li spoke up.

"I'm hungry."

Everyone sat still. Li looked at Arlen. Arlen looked at Li. They both looked at Jack and then their sacks, knowing their lunches were inside. They looked at the shackles that bounded them in a circle, and then up at Jack, who returned the look defiantly.

"I'm not moving!" He sniffed in defense. Arlen and Li shrugged nonchalantly and yanked themselves up, dragging Jack face down, over to their sack. They proceeded to plop down, and eat in front of a greatly disgruntled Jack.

"Well you could at least give me some!" he complained querulously, eyeing their sandwiches. They each tore off a piece of their sandwiches, flinging them far beyond the Captain's reach. They stared at each other. Silently. Jack looked at Li. Li smirked back. Jack looked at Arlen. Arlen stuck out her tongue. Jack looked at the food, then pleadingly at the girls. They crossed their arms as best as they could.

"WE'RE NOT MOVING!"

-x-

Later they were forced to move out into the open to be able to lie down comfortably. At first they tried to lie with their feet together, but nearly broke their arms trying. So, Li and Arlen curled up together while Jack scooted as far away as possible. This too was uncomfortable, so as the night wore on they edged closer. Sleepily, the twosome began to hum a song young pirates were taught so that they might learn the different parts of a ship. Jack edged closer and the two half asleep girls gladly curled up near to him for extra warmth.

"I knew two little girls once, who sang that song." Jack drew their heads onto his stomach to see them better, noting that they were asleep. "I miss them, very much." Outside the cannons still boomed, and Jack caught himself remembering another night when cannons roared, a night he lost so much... the moonlight flickered fitfully over Li's face and Jack saw a long scar running down her face that he was sure hadn't been there before. His gaze turned to Arlen when she shifted in her sleep and the shoulder of her shirt fell to below her deltoid, revealing a long white scar running down her arm from wrist to shoulder. The rotaries Captain nodded slowly, absorbing the information.

"I miss them very much..."

-x-

Will awoke on the streets with a throbbing headache, groaning, he stumbled past the Commodore and the Governor and heard them talking. Apparently Elizabeth, the woman Captain Jack had rescued, had been kidnapped in a pirate attack last night! Forgetting about his soreness, Will bolted for the blacksmith shop and kicked it open, the bright sunlight falling on the sleepers, who moaned at the pain the light caused.

"Where were you? It's morning!" howled Arlen.

"We notice." Li and Jack commented dryly.

"Do you know how uncomfortable it is to sleep in chains!" Liash complained.

"Do you know how bad Jack smells!" Arlen whined.

"I heard that!" Jack snapped.

"I got knocked out; I noticed; no, and no THANK YOU, I don't want to know." Will answered all their questions exasperatedly. "None of that matters! Elizabeth has been captured!"

"So you have found a girl!" Jack teased. Will glared.

"Do you know where the Black Pearl makes berth?" he asked urgently.

"Does anyone. It can only be found by those who already know where it is." Jack answered cryptically.

"But do you?" Will asked.

"Let me see... You want to get on a ship, sail after the Pearl, kill the bad guy and save the damsel so winning the fair lady's heart." Will nodded. "And you need me to do it." Will nodded again. "Tough luck mate, I don't see what's in it for me."

"I can get you out of here safely!" Will bargained quickly.

"How? The keys don't seem to be anywhere." Jack said sarcastically.

"True, I did lose them." Will admitted sheepishly. Jack, Liash, and Arlen groaned simultaneously. "But.." he darted over to the hammer and anvil and pick up a similar shackle. "With the proper pressure and leverage." He held the shackle at an angle to the edge of the anvil and struck a hard blow with the hammer. The shackle fell apart cleanly. "It comes undone." He said eagerly. Jack thought, and at tenth spoke. "What's you name?"

"William Turner" Will replied dubiously.

"William. Good, strong name. No doubt named for your father." Jack interrogated.

"Yes." Will frowned. Jack sat and continued to think, then responded.

"Count me in, mate." Jack smiled.

"But what about," Will paused and nodded at the girls, "THEM."

"We're coming!" Li and Arlen cried, standing and yanking Jack to his feet. Jack groaned with the pain of the whiplashes caused.

"You most certainly are not." He scolded.

"You're forgetting on thing, dear captain." Li reminded him, then both of them proceeded to jerk the captain wildly back and forth. "You are LITERALLY stuck to us until Will takes these shackles off."

"Will, take the shackles off." Captain Jack begged. Will led them to the anvil and placed Jack's left arm on it, leaving the chain of his shackles dangling off the anvil. Will raised the hammer.

"Just, uh, don't break my wrist," Jack gulped nervously.

"As tempting as that is," Will struck a hard blow to the chain, causing Li and Arlen to scream and Jack to wince. However, the chain fell away from the shackle, hitting Arlen's shin with a loud whack. "It wouldn't do for you to have a broken wrist should a storm arise ." They rotated so that Jack's right arm was on the anvil and struck it another hard blow. This time the chain hit Li. Jack eyed the actual shackles on his wrists.

"How do we get these off?" Jack asked.

"Oh, you'll have to make do with those," Will replied. "That's the part you need a key for."

"Well what about us!" Li cried, holding her other, still-chained arm up.

"The guards can figure that one out." Will said ominously.

"No!" Arlen cried. "You can't turn us in! That would be treating us like-"

"Pirates" Will finished, indicating the tattoo on her wrists. Blushing, Arlen hid it behind her. "I'm freeing one pirate here and that'll weigh heavily enough on my conscience." Will added seriously.

"Plus it'll be dangerous." Jack supplied, "It won't be a tea party on a pleasure boat."

"So, our fathers wouldn't mind us sailing without a full crew through dangerous waters pursuing cursed pirates!" Liash cried. She froze and faced Arlen,

"Sailing? Cursed pirates?" she asked curiously. Jack didn't have time to ponder their words, so lost he was in memories...

-x-

He could not remember how long ago it was. The walls of the blacksmith's shop faded away into the sinuous sliver mist rolling over the ocean Caribbean in the eerie pre night dark. He could feel the ocean dip and rise like a restless giant beneath the elegant ship the Lone Star Running an could hear the creaking masts. Thick, salty, smell of the ocean rose to meet his nostrils and he slowly descended the stairs from the upper deck, sill rubbing his eyes with sleepiness as he crossed the main deck.

It felt good to have slept so late, he remembered. Had it been his on ship, he would've been up long before the, but it was not his ship. It belonged to Caylyn Starre, the leader of the pirate clan Starre. As Jack picked his way through the sleepers on deck, the frightening halcyon around them was suddenly broken by a sharp gasp coming from the port side of the shop. Jack turned abruptly, but relaxed when he realized it was one of his goddaughters, who had spooked when she saw a ship glide in and out of dark, churning waters of the Caribbean.

"What was that?" the frightened girl asked. The girl next to her replied.

"Hush, Lone Star, 'tis only my ship, the Wolf of the Sea." soothed the other.

"Aye, Black Wolf. It is." Lone Star replied.

"You must be truly frightened not to recognize it," Black Wolf chuckled. Lone Star returned the laugh but more weakly. "What's wrong my dear friend?"

"Everything Black Wolf, everything is going wrong..." Lone Star. Jack would've smiled at his goddaughters characteristic melodeon had he not had the same gut-wrenching fear in his stomach. Jack approached Caylyn, who stood at the helm, frowning into the mist.

"We're approaching the Pearl I believe... She must be somewhere near here.." Suddenly Caylyn gave a harsh curse and veered sharply to port and then straightening. Jack nearly fell.

"What was it." he asked.

"A rock. We would've run aground." Caylyn replied, whistling at the closeness. "These are treacherous currents extremely rocky." He went on to explain. "We have the advantage over the Pearl; Barbossa can't possibly know these waters as well as I. Since I first cut my teeth as a sailor around here. And we know the Running and Wolf are matches for the Pearl." Caylyn grinned.

Jack nodded. The Lone Star Running, the Wolf of the Sea, and the Black Pearl were the finest and fastest ships in the Caribbean, a deadly trio of pirates vessels that could outrun any other. But now it as only the Running and the Wolf that sailed under goodly captains. Barbossa, Jack's ex-first mate, had taken over the Pearl and it was the intent of Caylyn, Jack, and Captain Hank, the captain of the Wolf of the Sea, to retrieve it. The chase had lasted for two days straight, the Running and the Wolf negotiating the Pearl towards Alameade, the small island port that the Starre clan hailed from.

The waters were treacherous and fast along rocky coast, and the mists thick and deceptive during the twilight hours. Legend spoke of a god-forsaken Isle between Alameade and Normandy the port the Wolfe clan of pirates called home, an Isle shrouded by mist and fog and jagged rocks; an Isle under the perpetual cover of night with foam, red with blood of lost souls, crowning black waves. They say forgotten souls wonder there, eternally lost and they follow sunbeams to the final peace of death.

Caylyn realized that they were headed in the direction of that very Isle, and began to utter a string of cures under his breath.

"What is it?" Jack cried as Caylyn swung the Running widely around so that its starboard side banked the terrifying wall of fog that loomed suddenly before them.

"The Isle." Caylyn muttered. Jack grew angry as Caylyn turned them around, his son, up in in the crow's nest crying for the Wolf to follow.

"You're abandoning the Pearl because of a bloody legend?" Jack howled.

"It's not a legend Jack!" Caylyn cried. "Host the sail!" He shouted and the crew sprang to life. "Every sailor in those parts knows that those waters are so strong and that mist is so thick that a ship would be smashed within minutes. We're in the ideal place for a trap which means-"

"CANNON FIRES!" shouted James, Caylyn's son, from the crow's nest.

There was that horribly painful silence as the cannon ball flew through the air and then the gigantic splash and geyser of water that sprayed the crew with mercilessly freezing water on their port side as the cannon ball hit the water. Like a spectral wraith the Pearl slide out beside them, her cannons loaded.

"Full sails! Below deck and paddle for your lives!" bellowed Caylyn. A strong gust of wind expelled them from the fogs of the Forgotten Isle and into clearing in the mist. Caylyn called for a halt after turning the Running hard to starboard, the Wolf close beside them. With jeering calls the black sails Pearl slide out of the mists and towards them. With battle cries, the pirates on both ships drew their swords and guns. Captain Jack turned to Lone Star and Black Wolf who held their sword at the ready.

"Go in the Captain's cabin!" he cried.

"NO!" Black Wolf shouted

"We can fight!" Lone Star added.

"It's too dangerous! This is not a tea party on a pleasure boat!" Jack argued.

"But our fathers said-" Black Wolf began but Jack cut her off, hustling his goddaughters towards the cabin and thrusting them inside. He turned to lock the door, but a bullet whizzed by and he was forced to duck. Cannon-fire roared all around him like a clash of a titanic dragons as he stood drawing his gun and firing away at pirates on the Pearl. He didn't turn to lock the door. He could trust Lone Star and Black Wolf. The door didn't need to be locked.

How often, and how acutely, he would regret that decision.

-x-

"They're coming." Jack was quick to say as he pulled himself from his reverie.

"What?" Will asked, taken aback.

"I've got a gut-feeling that they should come." Jack explained. They heard a subtle click and turned to see that the girls had taken a wire from packs at their hip and unlocked their shackles. They stood, smiling smugly, with their hands completely free. "They are definitely coming. "Jack said affirmatively.

-x-

Will had no further say in the matter and had to sullenly follow the lead of the captain towards the docks. They silently followed shadows through the wreckage caused by the pirates the night before until they reached a seduced beach, where a small rowboat was moored.

"Here we are!" Jack aid cheerfully.

"This?" Li said skeptically "This is it?"

"Where are going to pursue the infamous Black Pearl in a rowboat?" Arlen cried.

"No." Will snorted "We're going to steal-" "COMMANDEER, commandeer a ship." Jack corrected.

"Fine! We are going to commandeer a ship in the Royal Navy." Will rolled his eyes.

"But what if we get caught?"

"We'll die horrible, nasty deaths," Jack said calmly. "Which is why we won't get caught."

"O." Liash said. "But how the bloody hell are we going to COMMANDEER a ship with a rowboat?" Jack smiled merrily.

"You'll find out won't you?"

"I don't like it when he does that" Arlen muttered.

"Neither do I." Will added.

-x-

"This is fun!" cried Arlen.

"Shut up Arlen or you'll bring the whole damn Navy on us!" Liash growled.

"That'd be fun too!" Arlen squealed. There was a thud and a yelp as Li kicked Arlen in the shin. Jack and Will groaned. Their underwater journey, the rowboat providing the necessary air, had not been fun for them. At any other time, they might've fought the urge to laugh, but now, walking along the floor of the port by dozens of Royal Navy guards, they fought the urge to strangle the dynamic duo.

After what felt like an eternity of walking through the water with a rowboat poised tentatively over their heads they began to approach the Dauntless. Arlen looked down and noted that Will had stepped in a lobster trap and was dragging it along with them, the flamboyant buoy above trailing them and attracting harmless attention. Arlen nudged Liash, who had noticed as well.

"Should we tell 'im?" she whispered. A devilish grin crossed Li's face.

"Nah!"

-x-

They had to work hard not to burst out in gales of laughter when Will realized his predicament. At a gesture from Jack, he didn't explode at the girls, who obviously knew. He pointed to them, then made an R and violently pretended to slash his throat. They gulped. It was obvious what he meant.

With false bravado they leapt aboard the Dauntless, Jack leading the way.

"Good afternoon gentlemen! Stay calm we are taking over the ship!" he declared cheerfully. Will drew his sword and brandished it widely.

"Aye! Avast!" he growled, but froze when he felt the others lean forward, cock an eyebrow at him and shake their heads.

"Amateur." they said in sync.

"Abandon ship!"

-x-

Walking around, the Commodore, heard shouts from the sea. "Commodore pirates on the Dauntless!" Catching his attention, he looks through his scope to see Jack and Will about to sail.

"That's got to be the worse pirate, I have ever seen."

-x-

Jack and Will acting like they where going to take the Dauntless plan had worked. Will went up to Jack saying, "They're coming." A devilish grin on his face, Jack turned to look at the Commodore.

-x-

Sailors leapt into action aboard the Interceptor and Commodore Norrington leapt aboard.

"Open fire on the Dauntless!" the Commodore shouted

"On your on ship?" cried a crewman.

"I'd rather see her at the bottom of the Caribbean then in the hands of pirates." Spat the Commodore.

Soon the Interceptor pulled up alongside the Dauntless and they prepared to board. However, as they swung off the Interceptor and onto the Dauntless, Jack, Will, Arlen, and Liash swung onto the Interceptor in their place. Jack and Will landed with catlike grace, but Liash and Arlen jumped for the same rope, bashing heads in the process. They screamed wildly as their rope swung in the opposite direction. Crew members dove out of the way, only to leap at the two airborne girls in a desperate attempt to capture them. They shifted their weight to veer wildly out of the way smashing Arlen into the mast.

With a groan, she started to slide off, but Li caught her and pushed off of the mast barreling into several crew members as they plowed forward, then swung back again. This time when the mast approached, they leapt off and clambered up it, slipping and cursing all the way. They stopped, panting, at the top and saw, to their horrors, that Jack and Will, oblivious to their absence, were sailing on!

"JACK! WILL!" They hollered, frantically waving their arms. They nearly fell as the Dauntless lurched forward, but managed to grab hold once more, Arlen looked down.

"Oh shit... Li!" she cried noting the crew members climbing steadily towards them. They began to shimmy towards the other side, shouting for Jack and Will the whole time. At last, Will looked at the Dauntless, and then up to its mast. He saw two frantically waving shapes...

"Jack, the girls!" he cried, Jack looked up.

"Damn!" Jack cursed, turning the Interceptor around so fast Will was nearly flung overboard. It seemed that the two titanic ships would smash into each other for they headed in a straight line towards such a collision. Li and Arlen's stomachs tightened as they drew closer and they clung desperately to one anther.

The crash, and their doom, seemed imminent, but at the last instant Commodore Norrington veered away nearly catapulting the twosome over to where they had been before. They held on though, and looked down to see Jack.

"JUMP!" He shouted, holding his arms up to show that he'd catch them.

They never knew they so instinctually trusted Jack, but they locked hands, gathered their courage, tensed their muscles, and sprung from the mast and towards the waiting arms of Captain Jack Sparrow...

It seemed to take forever to fall. Their hands were locked and their eyes met, a silent agreement that they'd die together as they always knew they would. Sights and sound slid by like mud dripping. The sun glared off o the sea, like molten fire in the night...cold...misty...lost...

Suddenly everything sped up and Captain Jack seemed that much closer. They finally regained enough of their little sanity to scream bloody murder, but the wind was knocked out of the three of them as they slammed into Jack, sending him crashing to the deck with groans of pain. Jack had no time to feel the intense pain though. He lifted the girls off of himself and ran to the helm, pulling the Interceptor out of Port Royal as fast as he could. He waved his hat in a trial farewell. On the Dauntless, a crew member smiled.

"They are the best pirates I've ever seen."

-x-

The day passed slowly, Liash and Arlen trying to help Jack and Will out, but their bruises defeated them in the end and the captain told them to sit down, which they gladly did. Soon Arlen fell asleep on Li's shoulder.

"Jack?" Li asked. The Captain glanced at her. "Where are we going?"

"Tortuga." Jack answered. As Li slowly, nodded her head, she felt her eyelids dropping. Sighing, she closed her eyes and began to fall asleep.

Later, Jack and Will picked up the sleeping girls and carried them below deck. They lay them on a billow between some barrels and with muffled sighs they curled up close and murmured 'good-night' before falling back asleep, rocking in the gentle arms of the Caribbean sea. 


	3. The Broken World

Chapter Two  
The Broken World

The day passed swiftly after the girls awoke with splitting headaches. Despite their complaints, they were quickly put to work by Jack, who insisted that they must clean off the Navy scum left on the deck. Confused (as usual) they looked around for some sign of the aforesaid scum.

"But Jack, it's sparkling clean!" Li cried incredulously.

"Exactly!" The nefarious Captain said, handing a bucket and a mop to each girl while a silently brooding Will minded the helm. "You must make it nice, dirty and piratey!" They looked at the water in the buckets. It seemed clean enough.

"Whatever, Jack." Li sighed.

"You scare us." Arlen added, shaking her head as they walked off to start at the stern where they could be alone.

Concentrating is not generally something those two girls do for long, and after a few minutes of mopping, at which point they crossed paths since they had started at opposite sides, their concentration began to wane. Arlen mopped viciously towards Liash. The mop hit her in the ankle, and got her pants wet. She looked up, her black eyes smoldering. She shoved her mop towards Arlen in much the same fashion, getting the other girl wet. With an indignant cry, Arlen pulled her bucket over and kicked its contents on to Li, who was stunned a moment before doing the same to her. At this point, Arlen hefted her mop into the air and swung down at Liash, who lifted her mop and parried the blow.

"This calls for swords!" Li cried, throwing down her mop and reaching for her blade. Arlen did the same, and the two set off into a vicious fight.

Li was immediately into the offensive, which suited Arlen just fine. She held at bay her attacks, maneuvering them towards the opposite side of the deck and leaving Li pressed up against it. She then swiped low at the girl's shins. To avoid the blow, Li leapt up and over a shocked Arlen, who whirled just in time to block her friend's (A/Nyes they still love each other... shocking!) downward slash, catching it at the crossbar in a lock. They held it there a minute, each grinning devilishly at each other, as though they had been doing this forever, then Arlen broke it with a vicious sidekick towards Li's abdomen. This forced Li to jump back, but she maintained the sword lock, jerking Arlen along with her. Arlen pressed forward with her sword, pushing Li downwards slowly but surely. Once Liash was on her knees, she pulled her feet out from under herself and kicked into Arlen's stomach, meaning to send her flying backwards and off of her. Arlen would not be dislodged so easily, however; she grabbed Li's free wrist, and they both went tumbling spectacularly into... Captain Jack Sparrow. Li, now on top, looked up to see the ambiguous face of the pirate captain staring down at her, while Arlen was forced to tilt her head back and look up. Both gulped, slowly climbing to their feet and sheathing their swords. They stood side by side, looking for once sheepish.

"What 'ave I told you about playin' with sharp objects?" He asked in a soft tone, eyeing them carefully.

"Nothing that I remember." Arlen said, looking confused.

"Well, let me tell you something 'bout it then, love." He said, putting an arm around her shoulders and leading her to the very back part of the stern, next to the railing. He then stepped back from her. "If yer gonna fight with sharp objects," He turned briefly away from her. "At leas' do i with a bit o' style!"

He whirled suddenly, his sword out, and lunged towards the unarmed Arlen. With lightening quickness, she drew her own sword, knocking the blow aside and lunging in at his stomach. He whirled again and ended up facing her sideways, catching her blow and angling it down as easily as if it were a three-year-old's first foray into the world of swordplay. As he raised his sword high over his shoulder in preparation to slash Arlen across her throat, he felt the tip of one press into his back, right in-between his shoulder blades. He stiffened, stopping his blow just inches from Arlen's neck, then turned his head sightly. Surely enough, there stood Liash, a smart-ass smirk on her face.

"Clever," He conceded. "Bu' not stylish." He smiled roguishly. He leapt and spun in midair, aiming a kick for Li and swinging his sword towards her from over his other shoulder. Li leapt lithely backwards and blocked his blow, ignoring the vibrations that slid down her hand and made her wrist numb.

"That's not stylish Jack!" Li admonished, giving Jack several sharp, short slashes that forced him backwards more and more as he parried them and she stepped closer. "That's just being a bloody show-off!" She grinned.

At that time she leapt up and grabbed the rope she had been maneuvering towards. She swung down on Jack, both feet out in a blow intended to hit him square on in the chest, while her sword was poised for a downward slash. Calm as you please, Jack stepped out of the way of the kick, then grabbed her wrist as she sailed down and landed, jerking the sword out of her hand. This happened so fast that Li still attempted to slash him, stopping halfway when she realized she was blade-less. Jack smirked and twirled the swords in his hands, crossing them just below his grinning face in an eerie display so similar to the Jolly Rodger. He began to advance, slowly sliding the blades across each other until they were held at his sides.

"Read, love?" He asked in a silky tone. Li gulped as he advanced, but stiffened as she heard Arlen's call.

"LI! YOUR BACK!" She screamed. Li paused for a moment, confused, then reached to her back and felt the handles of two long knives.

"OH!" She cried, drawing them just in time to block Jack's double slash. He paused.

"Impressive." He said, nodding.

"Jackass." She growled.

"That'd be me name, Liash, don't wear i' out." The Captain grinned. He broke free of their lock and slashed low with one blade. As Li parried it, he stabbed out with the other sword, a blow with she also caught. Unfortunately, blocking these blows left her wide open in the middle, which was exactly what Jack had wanted. With a courtly grin, he leaned back on one foot and kicked out with the other.

The blow connected solidly with Li's stomach and sent her flying backwards against the rail, where she lay dazed. Jack held his swords out wide and bowed, still grinning like a demon. Just then, something cold, sharp and metallic pressed against his throat, and something pointy pressed delicately into the small of his back. Both forced him into a standing position. He carefully looked over his shoulder to see Arlen standing there, smiling.

"Sneakin' up behind me? Pirate, are we?" He asked.

"You trained me, Jack." She said, traces of an English accent slipping into her voice. She disengaged her weapons and stood back. "Of course I am." She said with a shrug. Jack nodded.

"Ah, well, ye've bested me lass." Jack smiled.

"Yea, because I was keeping you busy! You can't give her all the credit!" Li cried indignantly. "And that was cheating, sneaking up behind like that!"

"Pirate!" Arlen and Jack said simultaneously. Li rolled her eyes.

"Whatever." She muttered, standing and sheathing her knives. Jack tossed her her sword, which she sheathed also.

"There. As a reward, Arlen shall get to help me up at the helm today." Arlen beamed. Jack continued. "Li, as punishment, you shall help Will with the chores. We're drastically short on crew, so I don't wanna 'ear anythin' about you disobeyin' him."

"Who, me?" Li said, placing a hand on her chest. "How could you EVER doubt me, dearest Jack?"

"I know ye a little too well to believe that one, Black Wolf." Jack smiled tenderly. Arlen looked confused.

"Who's Black Wolf?" Arlen asked, confused. Li wore a similarly bewildered expression. Jack's smile faded.

"Oh. I forgot.. You forgot." He said quietly. He looked at them, unspeakable pain in his eyes. Gods, what Fate had wrought this? Here, standing before him, was the only treasure that had truly escaped his grasp. The Black Pearl was always something he could get back, but here were the two girls who had filled his days with light and joy, the daughters of his dearest friends. He had raised them, taught them everything he knew. And they had been wrenched away from him in one bloody dawn. Why was he being punished? Why were they being given back, but not knowing who they were? He sighed. "Come wi' me, Arlen. Li, go get Will and relieve him of the helm." He said their names numbly.

The words tasted like poison on his tongue.

-x-

At the end of the day, Jack stood next to Arlen. She had a steady eye and hand at the wheel, and he was proud of her progress for that day. 'Why wouldn't I be?' He thought vaguely. 'I trained her. All this should be second-nature, and it is. Why can't she and Liash remember who they are?' His reverie was shattered by the sound of a door being shoved violently open. He and Arlen turned to see Will and Liash coming from below deck, where they had passed the day doing chores. They were both sweaty and panting, wearing twin looks of utter hatred.

"Hello ARLEN." Liash spat. "I have a little GIFT for you." She continued. She held up a glass jar. Inside of it was a medium-sized spider, trying desperately to get out. Arlen's face paled instantly, her hands tightening noticeably on the helm. "We spent... all... bloody... day... cleaning them out of the brig... and... I got one for you... thought you'd enjoy it..." She growled in-between ragged breaths.

"How... erm... thoughtful of you..." Arlen smiled weakly. Jack rolled his eyes.

"I can't believe you made us do that, Jack!" Will cried. "Who knows if they're poisonous or not?"

"Well if they were and they bit you then we'd know, wouldn't we mate?" Jack said calmly, watching the sea again.

"Is that why we have headaches?" Li and Will whined at the same time.

"Oh my god, you got bit?" Arlen cried, rushing to her friend. Jack yelped as she let go of the helm and sent it spinning. He quickly righted it, however.

"I's nothing a good night's rest won't cure." Jack said, exasperated. "Li and Arlen, go below-deck and sleep. Will will wake you up when i's your time for watch."

"Aye cap'n." The two girls muttered, suddenly exhausted. They disappeared below-deck. Jack turned back to the sea, silent and ambiguous as always.

"They're interesting girls, aren't they Jack?" Will said quietly, leaning up against the railing nearby.

"Aye." He said hoarsely. "Very interesting..."

-x-

They were trapped. 'I'm trapped I'm trapped I'm trapped I have to help them!' the words ran through their heads endlessly as they shifted restlessly on their respective beds. Their breaths were shallow and short until at last Arlen sat up quickly, but still asleep. Li did the same. Like ones in a dream, they went to the door, feeling out its rough, wooden texture. Slowly, they began to knock it. it was faint at first, and the knocks were few and far between. Then they grew more loud, harsher, harder, until they were pounding on it so hard that their hands nearly bled...

-x-

Their hands were bleeding already. They screamed for all their worth, but knew that they would not be heard over the cacophony of the battle outside. Black Wolf backed away, but Lone Star would not give in.

"JACK! YOU CAN'T LEAVE US IN HERE!" She screamed, falling to kicking the door viciously. It began to splinter under the force until at last Black Wolf came forward again.

"LOOK!" She screeched, desperate to be heard above the gunshots outside. "HE LEFT THE DOOR UNLOCKED!" For once praising Jack's idiocy, they opened the door and went into the maw of the beast...

-x-

At last they were free! The door gave way under their combined efforts, and Arlen and Li stumbled out onto the deck, into the fullness of the silver moonlight.

There was horror in their eyes.

-x-

They were blind and deaf all at once from the bangs of pistols and cannonballs and the flashes of gunpowder. But they were at home too. They whirled through the melee, dispatching men who were once their friends without a trace of remorse. They were pirates, born and bred, after all... They were coordinated as dancers, fluid as water itself, working together with perfect and deadly grace. They saved lives and took them, lost in the vicious ecstasy of battle. Nathaniel, the middle Starre child, was beset by too many enemies and looked as though doom was upon him. They were there in mere instants, slashing away and disengaging some of his combatants. They moved so quickly and effortlessly, Nathan did not at first recognize them... until he saw the brilliant, daring grin on the face of Lone Star.

"Lone Star?" He cried hoarsely over the battle.

"Saved by your little sister... again!" She crowed triumphantly. She heard the whistle of a blade next to her neck and Nathan's cry of warning. She ducked swiftly, and heard a cry of pain behind her, When she straightened and looked over her shoulder, a pirate of the Pearl was lying on the ground, deep within his death throes. Black Wolf stood beside her, smirking.

"And saved by your best friend... again!" She grinned. With a joyous laugh, the young pirates ran back into the battle, unaware of their fate, unaware that they would never laugh together again.

A dynasty was at its explosive end.

-x-

Arlen and Li whirled and slashed across the deck, lost in a battle only they could see, a battle they could see all too easily. Jack was leaning against the mast, asleep, when the heavy sound of a body hitting the deck startled him into wakefulness. He reached for his blade, but saw that it was only Will, returned from the crow's nest. He opened his mouth to cuss the stupid Turner out of his prim breeches, but Will made a violent gesture of silence.

"Look over there." He mouthed, pointing towards the girls. Jack looked at them, his perfectly tanned skin suddenly paling. They were fighting thin air, using the same moves that had been signature to his goddaughters. It felt like his heat had stopped. "What are they doing?" WIll asked in Jack's ear.

"Reliving their death." He whispered.

-x-

The melee grew too fierce and close for the girls. who disliked the close quarters. As they backed out to the fringes, picking off the stragglers, Black Wolf saw two pirates carrying a huge, locked chest with a long cord dangling from it...

"LONE STAR!" She shouted. Her friend turned and saw Nathaniel running below deck too.

"NATHANIEL!" They screamed, running down after him.

They got past the first flight of stairs with no sign of either the pirates or of Nathan. Their hearts rose up into their throats; they could smell blood. As they came to the second deck, they saw Nathaniel Starre lying there, a fast growing pool of blood around him. There was no time for tears now though, and there would be no tears later. Nathaniel Starre would go unavenged. Pure, unbridled rage surged through the girls and they ran down the stairs, trying not to slip in the waterfall of blood that followed them.

At last they reached the hold, filled with the spoils of their adventures. There were the two pirates, wedging the chest up near the top corner of the room and laying the cord along the rows of boxes, well out of the reach of the girls. Both carried heavily bloodied swords, and had fresh blood on their hands. With an irrational cry of utter anguish, Lone Star flung herself at them, Black Wolf close behind. The pirates whirled and countered their blows.

"What would the little misses being doing down 'ere, 'ey." One growled, the foul smell of him clouding their senses.

"Killing murderers!" Lone Star shrieked, slashing viciously at one.

It was a dance to the end, a deadly dance along the hazy borders of oblivion. The quarters were close, but they didn't care. They took many wounds, but it did not matter that their blood mingled with the blood of Nathaniel and all the others that had died up there. They had bled together before, bled, cried, laughed, lived together. They would die together. At last, Lone Star managed to stab her pirate through the heart, as did Black Wolf. They staggered backwards. At that moment, something struck the Running with terrifying force: an explosive cannonball. It struck the wall of the hold, right next to them, shattering the leg bones of Lone Star's pirate, shattering them. The bones began to mend, and both pirates grinned wickedly.

"Isle de Muerta..." Black Wolf whispered fearfully, suddenly remembering why Barbossa had betrayed Jack.

"Sorry, but that ain't where you'll be going." One pirate said. From the gaping hole in the ship, water began to gush in. "You just bought yerself a one way ticket to hell." 

Out in the air of the dawn, in air that no longer smelled of salt but of blood and smoke, the still fighting crews of the Pearl and the Running crashed to the listing deck. Below deck, Lone Star and Black Wolf found themselves calf deep in water. Before they could stop them, the pirates ran to the fuse of the chest and lit it. They scrambled up the stairs, ignoring Nathan's body, and out onto the deck. Lone Star and Black Wolf could hear the door slammed, then turned to the explosive chest. The fuse was far out of the reach of the water, even gushing as it was. There was no time left for them...

They ran up the stairs, something that grew harder by the minute as the ship continued to tip over. Upon reaching the door, they discovered it to be locked. They began to scream and pound on it, begging fate to spare them.

"GET OFF THE SHIP! SHE'S A GONER!" Hank Wolfe shouted, ushering the ragged crew of the Running onto his ship, the Wolfe, as the members of the Pearl went back to theirs. Caylyn ran around, calling for Nathan, while James organized the frantic exodus. Jack ran to the captain's cabin.

"LONE STAR, BLACK WOLF!" He shouted, opening the door. They were gone.

"WHERE ARE THE GIRLS?" Hank shouted.

"THEY'RE GONE! I CAN'T FIND THEM!" Jack cried desperately.

"GO, GO!" James was shouting, shoving Jack and his father onto the Wolfe, which began to pull away.

"THE GIRLS! LONE STAR AND BLACK WOLF!" Jack shouted wildly.

It was too late. Far too late.

-x-

Arlen and Liash fell to the ground in utter terror. They began to pound on the deck, willing it to break. They had to escape, but how? Where? Where was Jack? Why were they abandoned...? Was there any hope left...?

-x-

At last the door gave way and Lone Star and Black Wolf stumbled onto the deck, coughing as they inhaled smoke from the fires the crew of the Pearl had set. For an instant, Lone Star tried to turn back into the hold.

"NATHANIEL!" She screamed, reaching her hand out as if to try and reach her brother's body, even though she knew it was lost to the sea for eternity. Black Wolf held her back sheerly by the force of her will.

They were surrounded by a circle of flames. No one they knew was in sight. From his vantage point in the crow's nest of the Wolfe, James could see them there, surrounded by the acrid scent of smoke, blood and death.

"THE GIRLS! THEY'RE STILL ON THE _RUNNING_!" He shouted desperately. The Captains strained to see them, and cried out as they saw the girls trapped.

"JACK! FATHER!" Black Wolf cried in-between her sobs of terror. Just then, the mast snapped and fell near them, along with all their shattered dreams. Lone Star and Black Wolf clung to each other on the last night of their lives, as they always had. They were still there for each other. Even in death.

There was only one explosion. The ship buckled and shattered, like a piece of glass. Something that had raided ports and settlements for years, a place, a home, filled with memories and hopes and dreams, gone in an instant. Two girls, a whole world, gone up in smoke and flames.

It was hell.

Caylyn and Hank never knew how long they screamed for their girls. Jack shuddered to a stop, realizing he had lot something that was never his, a treasure he loved more than anything else in the world. At last, Hank turned to the helm.

"TURN BACK! WE MUST GO GET THEM!" Caylyn shouted desperately.

"THERE'S NOTHING LEFT TO GET!" Hank shouted back. "IT'S ALL GONE, CAYLYN! YOUR SHIP, YOUR DAUGHTER, YOUR SON, MY DAUGHTER! OUR WORLD IS GONE!" He turned back to the helm, leaving Caylyn to sink to his knees and weep, unashamed.

Jack said nothing and didn't move a muscle. He was staring at the black of the Caribbean sea, just tinged by the first rays of a beautiful dawn. If only it had come a few minutes earlier. Would he have been able to see the truth? Would he have accepted it, that they were gone? Would it have stopped hurting? He would never know. Slowly, he leaned over the railing of the Wolf of the Sea and opened his clenched hand. The golden key to the captain's cabin of the Lone Star Running fell into the waters of the Caribbean, winking twice in the light before sinking to the depths of the sea along with the shards of his shattered heart.

-x-

The girls fell silent all of the sudden, their silence much more frightening then the pounding and screaming that had preceded it. It was a minute or two before Jack and Will dared to approach them. When they touched their foreheads, they were feverish. At the touch, they whimpered and tried to move closer to it. Slowly, the two men sat down, and the girls wriggled closer to them. Will found himself with Arlen curled up on his chest, completely content. Jack was cradling Liash with the tenderness of a father. He looked over at the squirming Will and raised a warning eyebrow. Sullenly, the Turner stopped his wriggling and wrapped his arms around his charge. Satisfied, Jack bent his had and whispered in Liash's ear.

"I will never let you out of my arms again, Black Wolf. But even if you do get away again, you and Lone Star will always have a place in my heart." He said the words, realizing that, for the first time in a long time, he actually had a heart.

A/N Everybody do a happy dance! Jack has a heart again! Anyways, hope the chapter wasn't TOO confusing. There's some stuff about Li and Arlen that isn't explained until the second book, so bear with us! And PLEASE, read and review! WE BEG OF THEE! LOL

Freedomfighta6 - Thank you so much for reviewing our story!


	4. The Tortuga Escapades

Chapter Three  
The Tortuga Escapades

Jack Sparrow stirred unwillingly upon feeling the rays of sunlight touch his weathered face. The warm body nestled against him was a bit of a surprise at first, (how long ago was it since he had curled up with his goddaughters?) but he quickly adjusted to it. He felt guilty at having to leave her and go to the helm, but his _Pearl_ was calling to him. He had regained part of his treasure, but the other part was still out there. Gently he shifted the girl out from under him and lay her next to Will and Arlen. Instinctively, Liash crawled closer, but couldn't find a way in. Arlen remedied this by reaching over and pulling her close. At this point Will awoke.

"Jack." He whined, pointing to the girls.

"Like you don't love it." Jack snorted, going to the helm. They had drifted off course in the night, but he could find his way to Tortuga from anywhere in the Caribbean with a blindfold on and pieces of wax stuffed in his ears.

"Jack, make them go away! They're irritating little brats who want to take over the world!" Will whined.

"They very well did, once upon a time. They had all our hearts, our whole world, right in the palm of their hands." Jack whispered, his back to Will. Will frowned and lay his head back down, trying to figure out how Jack knew those two girls and why he seemed so fond of them. This contemplation proved to be a little much for him, and he lay his head down and went back to sleep without even knowing it.

When Jack looked over at them an hour later, when he was sure they were back on course, he smiled. Will had drawn the girls closer to him, and had his head lying on top of theirs. His arms were securely and protectively around them.

"What can I say, dear William? They grow on you very easily." Jack said softly, knowing Will would be mortified and would spend the rest of the day in hiding after he awoke and saw how he was cradling the girls. "As sweet as this scene is, I can't run this ship all by me onesies. Time to wake up the crew." He left the helm and went to them, kneeling. He could not resist the urge to brush the wayward hairs from the foreheads of his girls, but even that slight movement awakened them. They blinked owlishly at him and the sunlight.

"Bright." Liash muttered thickly.

"Sunlight generally is at noon." Jack said with a smile.

"Annoying." Liash continued.

"Noon? Noon late. Half day. Can we sleep rest of day?" Arlen muttered.

"Rest of THE day." Will chided gently.

"Bugger off, Will." Li muttered.

"That's not a nice thing to say to your pillow." Will said airily, standing up so fast that the girls crashed to the deck.

"OW! Deck hard!" Arlen whined, covering her eyes.

"Yes, yes, so far we have established that sunlight is bright and annoying, noon is late, you want more sleep, I need to bugger off, and the deck is hard. Bloody brilliant, aren't they?" Will said his hands on his hips.

"Be nice to them, Will. That's major progress for them. And they must've got their bloody brilliance from sleeping on your chest all night, cuz it sure as hell wasn't there yesterday," Jack said lightly, going back to the helm.

"That was just cruel, Jack." Li said, sitting up.

"Progress towards what?" Will asked, confused.

"Don't let the sun fry your pretty brains, William. What's left." Jack smiled. "Now you and the girls get to work. I want to arrive at Tortuga by nightfall."

"Aye aye captain." They murmured lazily.

"But we aren't going back below deck again, are we Jack?" Li asked nervously. She had a bad feeling about going below deck, especially after that bad dream she had last night. She wasn't even sure how she came to be sleeping on Will's chest.

"No, I need you up here all day. No worries, love." Jack said gently and soothingly. He knew why she was afraid, and why Arlen's eyes mirrored the same concern.

All day, Arlen and Li were pensive. The day was bright and warm, the sunlight was so bright almost as to hurt, and yet those bizarre scars that showed up in the moonlight still would not go away. And there was the deal with the dream. It had been all too vivid, all too familiar. (A/N Get used to their freaky dreams: half of book two IS their dreams!) Much to Jack's surprise, Will followed them most of the day, watching them carefully. At last he arrived at the conclusion that he was probably just trying to figure the two out. He shook his head, knowing Will's quest to be pointless. He had known those girls their whole damn lives and still only understood half of what they did. At least, he hoped these were the same two girls he had known from birth. It would crush him more than words can say if he went on so long believing them to be Black Wolf and Lone Star, then discovered that they were not. He did not think his heart could stand losing them a second time.

The ship was unusually silent all the day, and Jack half considered giving an order for someone to say something, then, realizing what the girls might see fit to say, decided that that was a far scarier prospect than that of silence. Getting on towards night, he looked up to see Will climbing to the crow's nest. Upon reaching the crow's nest, he handed in two apples, which were taken eagerly. Once Will was on the deck again, Jack called to him.

"Mister Turner! Where be the lasses?" He called.

"In the crow's nest, eating their apples. They were sleeping a couple minutes ago." Jack nodded.

"They had a rough night last night, God knows they deserve it." He said. Will stood there silently for a moment and considered asking Jack how he knew the girls, then decided to back off. They seemed to be a personal matter to Jack and, pirate or no pirate, William Turner respected a man's private thoughts.

Once Tortuga was on the horizon, it was well into night. The stars winked and glittered in welcome above them, laughing at some private joke of theirs. Arlen and Liash trooped down from the crow's nest and tripped over their feet as they reached the deck.

"Why can't decks get softer?" Arlen whined.

"Yea, why do the Navy have to have such nice ships? The wood is all hard!" Li chimed in. "I remember the Pearl: nice, soft wood. Perfectly worn from years of people running to and fro across the deck, laughing as they went..."

"I remember... the Running, wasn't it? We always had such smooth, polished, well kept decks. We used to go sliding across them in our stockings and father would let us carve designs in the floor and on the railing." Arlen said softly, almost dreamily.

"D'you remember the Wolf? We kept our decks prime for swordplay. They were well worn too." Li continued. Jack crept over to them, leaving Will at the helm.

"How do you know these things?" He asked carefully, not wanting to frighten or anger the girls. "How do you know of these ships? Have you seen them?" He asked, hoping beyond hope that they would remember...

"So... those ships ARE real? Not just in our imaginations?" Li asked in a voice filled with soft bewilderment.

"Yes. Very real. Do you remember them from somewhere?" He probed. Li shook her head.

"Not really... I just... know about them." Arlen said uncomfortably.

"Ah." Jack said softly, turning away. "Well, off to Tortuga then!" He said brightly.

"Joy." Li said darkly as she and Arlen walked to the prow.

"What! Tortuga is a beauty to behold, the Eighth World Wonder! It is a place of magic and love and, of course, RUM! You should feel blessed to be looking upon it!" He cried, feeling scandalized.

"Why should we be happy? You're just going to leave us there. What use will you have for us after you have picked up a crew?" Li continued in the same tone. Arlen merely stared off into space.

"Who said we were leaving you behind?" Jack asked mysteriously.

"You aren't leaving us!" Arlen cried happily.

"Why would I leave you?" Jack said, disgusted. "I thought you knew me better than that."

"Well, considering we only met a couple days ago, we don't even know you very well at all." Liash said simply. Jack hid the pain that he felt lance through him with those words. Cruel, clever Fate, giving them only a precious few of their memories and withholding the rest. He made up his mind then that Fate would not win. He would have his girls back; nothing could stop him.

"So where are we going Jack? Oh wait, that's right, we're going after the Pearl!" Arlen chattered.

"Can we sample some of the food in Tortuga?" Li asked eagerly.

"Will we meet some friends of yours there? Why are we going there, Jack?" Will asked suddenly.

"What sort of a crew will we get, Jack?" Arlen asked.

"Will you know the people in the crew?" Asked Will.

"Can we exchange Will for some more food?" Li asked.

"Can we just leave him there with a sign that says 'pillow for sale?'" Arlen asked.

"Wait, Arlen, do we really wanna sell our pillow?" Li asked.

"Nah." Arlen agreed.

"Why don't we just leave you two there?" Will said in a sulky voice, obviously not happy with the turn this conversation had taken.

"Because Jack said he's not leaving us there!" Li beamed.

"ALL RIGHT! THAT'S ENOUGH!" Jack bellowed. He pointed to Will. "You. Shut the hell up." He pointed to Arlen and Li. "You. SHUT THE FREAKING HELL UP." With cries of indignation, Arlen and Li clasped their hands over their hearts.

"JACK!" Li cried.

"We're so hurt!" Arlen continued.

"Come on Jack! Tortuga awaits! We shall go to that pub there!" Li said, pointing to a pub just off starboard.

"Yes, and there is where we will leave dear William with his sign!" Arlen chirped, pointing to a dock just off of port.

"I do so love how you two have decided to start leading this expedition. Pray tell, can you even write?" Jack asked sarcastically.

"Why, yes dear sir. Thank you for asking." Arlen said in her sweetest voice.

"Knowing that I feel that my safety is compromised." Will gulped.

"So sorry loves, but he's NOT for sale." Jack admonished.

"But Jaaaaaacccckkkkkkkkk..." Arlen whined.

"Don't 'but Jack' me. I may have a cute butt but I do not need to be reminded of it constantly, it irritates me." Jack said tiredly.

"But Jack, I've never seen your butt." Arlen said innocently. Jack shuddered.

"Thank god you don't have THAT memory back yet." Jack muttered in relief.

-x-

While Jack went off to talk to Joshamee Gibbs, (who the girls recognized from SOMEWHERE, but couldn't remember EXACTLY where from) Will was charged with keeping an eye on the two. The second they entered the pub, Will clapped his hands over their eyes.

"Arlen! Did you see that couple in the far corne- WILL! What was that for?" Li howled.

"For your safety!" Will said fervently.

"Our safety? You actually care about us?" Li asked, shocked.

"Wow. We should be dying of shock right now." Arlen mused.

"No! Please don't! If you do, Jack will kill ME!" Will cried.

"Well... if you don't want us to die... some ice cream would be good!" Li said slyly.

"All right, as long as we put it on Jack's bill." Will said in an icy tone. He had just seen Jack and his new friend looking over at them and had heard something about 'leverage.' Well, they could have their leverage. Ice cream sounded much more enjoyable.

-x-

When Jack and Gibbs had an accord and Gibbs was busily rustling up a crew, Jack went over to the bar. He was suspicious, since Will was sitting there with the two girls and all three were laughing hysterically. As he came over, he was shocked to find at least a dozen bowls spread out around the three, all covered in the remnants of ice cream.

"Erm..." He said, unsure of what was going on.

"Oh, hello Jack!" Li grinned like the maniac she was.

"Erm?" Jack said again.

"Oh, the ice cream? Looks good, doesn't it?" Will grinned.

"Yes, that's all fine and good, but how much have you had and who's paying for it?" Jack asked weakly.

"How many have we had? Let's see... around a dozen." Li said.

"Apparently, the bar keeper knows you. Said you had an account already. So we just added the bill to that." Arlen said in between mouthfuls of ice cream.

"WHAT! I have worked for years, pillaging and plundering and raiding to get enough money to honestly pay off the debt I still have left over from that party Caylyn and Hank and I threw! And you added to it!" Jack cried.

"In a general manner of speaking..." Will looked at the two girls next to him.

"Yea." All three said at once, digging into their bowls of ice cream.

"Well can I at least have some?" Captain Sparrow asked weakly.

"Hell no!" Arlen and Will cried, hugging their bowls to themselves.

"Don't be so selfish!" Li chastised. "it's not like we can't get more for the dear Captain here..." She trailed off.

"No! On that thought, I'm not hungry anyway." Jack said quickly. He sighed. "C'mon ye idiots. Let's get going."

"Idiots? What idiots? Who are you talking to, Jack?" Li asked, confused. There was a muffled cry of rage from somewhere outside; grinning and high-fiving each other, the three accepted the extra bowl of ice cream the bartender offered and followed Jack into the cool night air.

-x-

The cool night air had strange affects on the girls, who felt suddenly drowsy. They began to stumble and lag behind, until at last Will and Jack turned and scooped them up in their arms. Soon, they were asleep. Upon reaching the docks, Jack turned and began to walk a different way.

"Jack! Where are you going?" Will called quietly, not wanting to wake the little Starre asleep in his arms.

"Te get somethin'. Don't worry yerself, Mr. Turner." Jack replied quietly.

"Black Wolf? Where're you going?" Arlen muttered.

"With Jack. Don't worry, Lone Star." Li muttered back, waving sleepily.

"Oh. See you when you come back to sleep." Arlen continued. Jack and Will were shocked; they had been asleep the whole time! Shaking their heads, they went their separate ways.

Jack went towards the back of town, through places that people seldom went anymore. Old pubs, old brothels, all silent and windowless, memories forgotten by all but a few. This had been where the crews of the Pearl, the Wolf and the Running (better known as the Deadly Trio when they sailed in convoy) had come in their glory days to celebrate a successful raid. After that terrible battle with Captain Barbossa and the Pearl that left the Trio bereft and shattered, they had come less and less. Eventually, what had once been one of the loudest, most fun places in all of Tortuga had died. Jack sighed, remembering the times he, his friends and their daughters had enjoyed while there.

"Jack?" Li asked.

"Yes love?" He replied.

"Why's it so quiet?"  
"They're all waitin' for you, Black Wolf. Party can' start with out ye, 'S a shame too; we been waitin' so long for the party to start, we've drank all the rum." Jack said half quietly, half jokingly.

"My father will be so mad. So will Caylyn." She murmured,

"Aye, but you and Lone Star will charm me out of trouble, won't ye darling?" Jack laughed.

"Maybe if you give us some rum too, Jack." Li continued. Jack laughed.

"Maybe in your dreams." He grinned.

"Mm, dreams... dreams are good... I shall go catch one right now..." Li reached out one hand and closed her fist, as though catching something then drew that something to her chest. Then she was still and silent as the abandoned streets.

Jack went to a house at the farthest part of town. It was more of a facade then a house; it was much too small for the crews, families and captains of three notorious pirate ships. But it was not for living in; after a raid, they would dock their ships in a nearby cove that no one else entered. They'd then carry their gold, silver and jewels as well as the other spoils that they could not use or sell and go through the house. In the very back was a fake shelf unit with a display of weapons. If you pulled the trigger of the second pistol from the left on the top shelf, the shelves would swing open and lead to a grotto deep in the rock. If one would light the torches all along the room, one could see one of their numerous caches. Jack knew he would need a little more gold to take care of his new crew, and there was something far more personal that he needed as well.

When he reached the grotto and managed to finally light the torches, he went about his business as quietly as he could, leaving Li curled up against the wall but within his sight. Despite his quiet movements, Li awoke.

"Look at all the pretty gold..." She murmured.

"It's not for you, Liash." Jack said warningly.

"Oh, but it's my dream and I want the damn gold." She whined.

"Why don't you go catch another dream then?" Jack suggested, filling a sack with gold.

"Okay... I'll take... that one." She murmured, reaching out her hands and ensnaring something invisible. She was soon fast asleep. Jack couldn't help but smile. Moving her closer so he could still see her, he went to the very back of the grotto.

There, in a natural alcove in the rock, was a small shrine to Black Wolf and Lone Star. There were their first wooden swords, their first pairs of shoes, an old hat, Lone Stars old star pendant and her favorite pair of earrings, Black Wolf's hat and her jeweled dagger that she had stolen from an officer of the Royal Navy. It was a small treasure trove of the things that had made them, them. In the weeks after their death, Jack had found himself there when he'd awaken in the morning, an empty bottle of rum at his side. No matter how hard he'd try to escape it, he'd always be drawn back to that place, drawn back to them. With a smile, he reached for the two backpacks in the very back. They had left them on the Wolf two nights before the battle, which was strange because it had some of their most prized possessions. When they discovered them on the Wolf, they had searched in vain for every last trace of them they could find, but they had never recovered the two journals they had kept semi-religiously. But that didn't matter anymore, he had the real thing. He also reached for two things that had not been touched in a long time: a violin and a flute. Long into balmy summer nights, Black Wolf and Lone Star had entertained the crews with their music. He wondered if Arlen and Li could play, and decided to lug those two along.

Jack's muscles were burning with the effort of carrying both the fourteen year old and all his other spoils, but he eventually made it to the Interceptor. Seeing that Will and Arlen had fallen asleep together during watch, he left Li by them and, still smiling, went into his cabin.

-x-

"Feast yer eyes on em. Finest crew on the island, all of them faithful hands before the mast, every man worth his salt. And crazy to boot." Gibbs said to Jack.

"This is your able-bodied crew?" Will asked skeptically.

"Part of it, anyway. We're still missing the crucial members... ARLEN AND LIASH IF YOU DON'T GET YOUR ASSES DOWN HERE-" Jack shouted.

"We're coming already, Jack!" Arlen hollered back. Soon the two girls were standing beside Will and Jack, who began to prowl the crew.

"You, sailor!" Jack cried suddenly, pointing to a man with grey hair and a parrot on his shoulder.

"Cotton, sir." Gibbs supplied, following Jack.

"Mr. Cotton. Do you have the courage and fortitude to follow orders and stay true in the face of danger and almost certain death?" Jack asked rapidly. There was no answer. "Mr. Cotton! Answer me!" Jack barked.

"He's a mute sir. Poor devil had his tongue cut out," Gibbs said. Mr. Cotton stuck out what was left of his tongue to prove the point. Jack, Arlen and Li cringed at the sight. "So he trained the parrot to talk for him. No one's yet figured how."

"Mr. Cotton's... parrot. Same question." Jack said reluctantly.

"Oh god, he's talking to the parrot..." Arlen groaned.

"Let's just hope Gibbs doesn't get any smart ass ideas about parrot stew once the cabin fever sets in." Li muttered.

"Wind in the sails! Wind in the sails!" The parrot chirped happily.

"Mostly we figure that means yes." Gibbs said sheepishly.

"Of course it means yes! The parrot knows what he's talking about!" Arlen cried.

"Will... Jack's gone off his rocker to be hiring this crew..." Li muttered in Will's ear.

"We already knew he was crazy, Liash." Will muttered back.

"But he's more crazy than usual!" Li hissed back.

"Point made." WIll replied.

"Satisfied?" Jack said to Will, gesturing to the crew. Will had been doubtful from the moment Jack had hired Gibbs to get a crew.

"Well you've proved they're mad." Will muttered.

"And what's the benefit for us?" Came a slightly feminine voice from underneath a huge hat. Looking suddenly fearful, Jack approached the speaker and lifted the hat, eventually taking it off as he recognized who it was; a colored woman who had tucked her hair into her hat and hid her face with its brim.

"Anamaria." Jack said calmly. Without warning, Anamaria slapped him!

"I'm guessing you didn't deserve that one either?" Will asked Jack.

"No, THAT ONE I deserved." Jack said fervently.

"You stole my boat!" She cried. Arlen and Li began to laugh hysterically, remembering the previous night in Tortuga when Jack had been slapped by a couple of whores.

"Borrowed. Borrowed without permission. But with ever intent of giving it back to you-" Jack winced.

"But you DIDN'T!" Anamaria cried.

"Ana-" She slapped Jack AGAIN! This time, he had no comeback.

"You'll get another one!" Will said suddenly.

"Another one!" Jack said cheerily.

"A better one!" Will supplied.

"A better one!" Jack continued in the same tone.

"That one!" Will said, pointing to the Interceptor.

"THAT ONE!" Jack shouted, wheeling on Will. He turned to look back at Anamaria. "Aye. THAT one." Jack said through gritted teeth. 'That whelp is soo dead.' He thought to himself. "What say you?"

"AYE!" The whole crew shouted, rushing to get ready. In the midst of it all, Arlen and Li were still laughing hysterically.

A/N Dang, Jack must be strong to be carrying Li around all the time! LOL! Anyways, sorry for it being so long and I think we should apologize in advance for all the unrealistic things in these stories! As always READ AND REVIEW! WE'RE STILL BEGGING YOU!And THANKS TO ALL THOSE WHO HAVE REVIEW, Alori Kesi Aldercy, soccerchic91588, Freedomfighta6, and Arlen And SORRY for how long the chapters are but there are so good.


	5. Remembered Elegy

Chapter 4  
Remembered Elegy

They were STILL laughing (much to everyone's annoyance) for some time after that. But when Gibbs finally lost his patience and ratted on the girls, they began to miss the laughter. Jack yelling at them certainly wasn't much fun in comparison.

"You told them to WHAT?" He howled.

"Well... you see sir... they wouldn't stop laughing..." Gibbs said  
nervously, shifting from foot to foot.

"What, is that suddenly bad luck?" Jack seethed. "What did you tell them to do?"

"He told them that if they were going to keep laughing like that they might as well jump into the Caribbean and see if it amused the sharks to have dinner and a show because it was wasted on him." Anamaria, ever the bold one, stated loudly and plainly. Gibbs' face paled to match his hair and he shot her a death glare before turning back to Jack.

"You... told them... to jump in the ocean... and talk to sharks..." Jack said slowly, quietly. "Gibbs, can we walk and talk? Anamaria, at the helm. The rest of you... BACK TO WORK YE SCURVY MUTTS!" Mr. Cotton's parrot squawked in something that might have been the birds version of righteous anger.

"Eh, Captain? Mr. Cotton's parrot wants you to know that he's a purebred." Gibbs managed to stammer out.

"Well that's nice. AND I TOLD YOU ONCE, I TOLD YOU A THOUSAND TIMES! BACK TO WORK!" This time, the crew listened. And for once in his life, Gibbs wish he was back to work instead of having a one on one with Jack.

Captain Sparrow- he was so serious in that moment, it made sense to call him that -led him to the stern. The Interceptor was gliding along smoothly; the Caribbean hugged them like silk. The Captain looked out over it, something like a painful longing in his eyes. But it was hard to tell; he WAS Captain Jack Sparrow, after all.

"Gibbs, do you know what we're dealing with here?" He asked quietly, after a moment. Now, raging fury Gibbs could deal with. But... intellectual conversation? He was tempted to ask if Jack wasn't on rum, but decided not to push his luck.

"Cursed pirates?" He answered after a moment.

"I wish." Jack shuddered. "No, it's something far worse... irrational teenagers." There was a pause, but Gibbs wasn't sure what to say to fill it. "Now, Gibbs, I know this might be hard, seeing your advanced age, but try to think on this... Do you remember what you were like as a teenager?"

"...irrational?" Gibbs answered, hoping he was right. God, this calm, thinking Jack was terrifying.

"Exactly. And they take every little thing you say literally. You told them to jump off the boat and laugh at sharks. Being highly irrational and literal people who might be on a hangover from ice cream, what do you think they did?" Jack finished calmly. Gibbs cringed, waiting for an outburst.

"Jumped... in... the... water?"

"There you'd be wrong, dearest Gibbs." Came a smug voice from behind them.

The two whirled; there stood Liash and Arlen, wearing smug faces that befitted Liash's voice.

"You didn't jump over!" Jack cried.

"Not yet, of course!" Arlen cried indignantly. "Gibbs said we should give them dinner and a show,"

"So what's a show without music?" Li finished brightly. Only then did they notice there was something behind both their backs.

"What do you have there?" Jack asked cautiously.

"Guns." Arlen said with a roll of her eyes. "I have a violin,"

"And I have a flute." Li continued once more.

"That's getting annoying." Arlen warned.

"Well deal with it!" Li shot back. "So, can we practice for you before we go visit the sharks?"

"Sure..."

Li rolled her eyes and waited for Arlen, who was proceeding to tune her violin.

"Why do you have to do that after every single song?"

"It's the ocean air, it screws with my strings!"

"What do screws have to do with this?" Gibbs muttered.

"This has nothing to do with an actual screw. I mean the verb screw, when people-"

Li quickly covered Arlen&'s mouth, which of course made everyone assume the worst. SO it was actually a lot longer later when they started playing.

They started off with a jig, and within moments everyone was dancing. It was more than a little frightening to see Jack dancing, but it was worth it. It was even more worth it when someone dragged Will into it, and he tried desperately to pick up on the steps. When the musicians noticed his distress, they froze.

"EVERYONE STOP!"

Strangely enough, even the captain listened to them.

"Will, come here."

Looking like he was being led to the gallows, he complied.

"You can't be on a pirate ship if you don't know how to dance." Li said sternly.

"Who do you think you are, nobility? Only people at court have to dance."

"Of course we're nobility!" Arlen quipped. "Now pay attention, dumb ass."

Out of habit, Jack looked at the anatomical part in question.

"I dunno, it doesn't look dumb to me."

"Jack... Keep your eyes where we can see them!"

In response he fixed his eyes on them, which made the girls try continually to hide behind one another, which caused Will to try and sneak away, which caused Anamaria to try and catch him, which caused her to run into Mr. Cotton, which caused his parrot to shout "Aussie aussie aussie, oi, oi, oi!"

The end result was that everyone was back where they were before, and no one was really hurt except for Will, who was more terrified than ever.

"Please, I'm not a dancer."

"No, but you're a pirate." Li remarked casually. "Now watch us."

They started the song again, more slowly. With heavy, thumping steps, the whole crew followed their beat. The girls even managed to sway to their song, keeping their feet up. The sunlight glanced along the silver of Li's flute and the polished wood of Arlen's violin, and as the tempo picked up and Will truly began to dance, it occurred to him that it might not be so bad after all to be a pirate.

Everyone seemed to forget for a while that they were supposed to be on a daring mission to rescue the damsel and get the Pearl back from Barbossa and that the entire British Navy was probably following them. They danced for long after they should've continued on, suspended in the moment.

At some point or another, probably after the night's ration of rum ran out, it occurred to the crew that they were going to have one hell of a hangover and that they should get started on their sleep. Everyone was turning to go, the watch taking their positions. Arlen and Li remained alone, their instruments limp in their hands. Then they raised them again, barely thinking.

Everyone turned to the baleful cry of the flute, pitched high above the violin's low murmur, like a whispered plea for help. They were two completely different instruments, two completely different girls, but with the music of the sea around them they blended into one unending song of mourning.

No one knew how long the song continued, but none of them could turn away while it lasted. Flute and violin wrested control from each other time and time again, and they remained spellbound. No one's eyes were dry, though they had no idea why the song was so sad or what it was mourning. No one but the captain, who stood apart from everyone else in the shadows.

He remembered seeing Black Wolf run by him and below deck, where Lone Star had run just moments before. He remembered hesitating, then following them down and standing outside the door and listening. He remembered the trail of blood on the ground, thin but sinister.

"What are you doing here, Black Wolf?" Lone Star's voice was tearful.

"Dying."

"Me too."

"Why are you dying?"

"Everything."

"Yea, me too."

"My god, did you cut your wrist?"

"...yes."

Jack's hand clenched, but he remained where he was. He couldn't open that door. They had to heal their own wounds. Inside, he knew his girls were really to strong to go out like this.

"Why?"

"I told you, I'm dying."

Lone Star had no response to this.

"Star, it's just time. My heart's out of it. Hank's finally killed me."

"My father finally started." She said with a weak laugh. "He blamed me, Wolf. He said it was my fault my mother died. He... he hit me, Wolf."

Jack cursed Caylyn for being drunk, forgetting he was drunk himself. He'd always handled it better.

"So will you die with me, then?"

"I guess. We always said we would."

Jack's trust in them finally started to falter. He gripped the doorknob. _No. Not here. This isn't your end._ Then he heard something that froze him for a moment.

It was the sound of a flute, one high sustained note hanging in the air. It was joined by a violin, octaves below and just as hurt. It was a last song. It was completely spontaneous, and that made it hurt more to hear it.

Jack came back to the present just as they finished. Black Wolf and Lone Star didn't die that night. They didn't kill themselves. He killed them.

He cursed himself for being drunk as he went into his cabin, thinking that now he was no better than Hank or Caylyn.

A/N: Hey Everyone sorry it has taken us so long to update. Yesterday June 24, 06 we went to the Pirate World Premiere and got all excited to keep going with the series. Just as a heads up this is a totally different plot unlike Disney. We thought of this along time ago. Just so you know. Please Review and Respond!


	6. Treasure Hunt

Chapter Five  
Treasure Hunt

Watching from the bones of old ships, the sharks eyed the ship gliding above them and then dismissed it. They wouldn't be food- today at least. Today the waters around Isle de Muerta were wonderfully calm.

The anchor was dropped and everyone was feeling thoroughly solemn as Jack got ready to leave to end years of wrongdoing.

"Jack, what if the worst should happen?" Gibbs asked.

"Keep to the code." Jack replied.

"Aye, the code."

The key to a well run ship, be it Navy or pirate, is that every crew member has their job. For some unfathomable reason, Arlen and Li had been given the task of readying the rowboats.

"No, pull on that rope."

"No, it's this one. I'm positive."

"No, it's the other one!"

"This is just like in those movies where everyone's shouting 'cut the green wire!' and then the guy cuts the red wire instead and then he explodes!"

This last syllable of Arlen's rant was drawn out in a sharp cry as she pulled on the rope she was insisting on and she, Li and the boat promptly fell into the water.

"...And then everyone says 'I told you to cut the green one.'" Li practically snarled.

"Well, the boat's ready!"

"Unfortunately, that's the incorrect boat." Jack said, leaning over the side.

"...what?"

"That's the wrong boat. It's a sail boat. It won't work in the caves."

"...who keeps a sailboat on a real ship!"

"Damn navy..."

"It's because they drink that ridiculous grog. Who dares to mess up rum by putting water in it!"

Jack rolled his eyes.

"You. Whelp. Let's get the real boat and meet them down there."

Will glared at Jack but did as he was told. After a few more minutes of squabbling and mutterings against the Navy, all four were in the rowboat and heading into the gut of Isle de Muerta.

They paddled through the pitch black caves, gold glittering below them. Arlen and Li were so fascinated by this they hardly paid attention to the conversation behind them.

"What code is Gibbs to keep to should the worst happen?"

"The pirates' code. Who falls behind is left behind."

"The heroes among thieves."

"You know, for hating pirates so much, you're well on your way to becoming one." Jack remarked. "You sprung a man from jail, commandeered a ship of the fleet, sailed with a buccaneer crew out of a Torutga-"

"Not to mention you helped us force Jack to buy a hell of a lot of ice cream." Li added.

"And you're completely obsessed with treasure." Arlen added.

"That's not true." Will muttered as they pulled the boat up onto a small piece of land they found. "I'm not obsessed with treasure."

Jack led Will to the opening in the wall. A large chamber could be seen beyond, filled with the stench of dirty sailors.

He didn't look to the piles of treasure or the armed men within as he spoke. He looked to the two girls standing at the water's edge, fighting with the paddles.

"Not all treasure's silver and gold, mate."

At that exact moment, one of the little treasures hit the other little treasure over the head with her paddle. Arlen laughed hysterically as Li slowly collapsed to the ground.

"Should we wake her up?" Will asked.

"Trust me, we'll all be happier and safer if she wakes up in her own time. This girl likes her sleep." Arlen snickered as she went to Will's side.

Jack began to walk away and Will began to follow, but the captain turned around and held up a hand.

"You wait here. And try not to do anything... stupid." He looked at Arlen too when he said it, then disappeared into the shadows.

-x-

Jack crept through the tunnels, his mind racing. He wasn't worried about sauntering into the room beyond and facing his mutinous first mate for the first time in years. Oh no. He was trying desperately to figure out what he was going to do with those two girls. He would go insane soon if they didn't turn back into Black Wolf and Lone Star forever.

He was so preoccupied with these thoughts that he never heard Will's footsteps. Moments later he lay on the ground, and Will stood behind him with the same paddle Arlen had knocked out Li.

"Sorry Jack. I won't be your leverage."

"Wow. The whelp is smarter than he looks." Arlen remarked.

Will snapped a glance in her direction, then nodded in the direction he was heading. "Come with me."

Moments later they were back to where they started, leaping into the rowboat. Will grabbed the oars and was ready to go.

"But what about-" Arlen began.

"They fell behind." WIll replied shortly. Arlen sat back and didn't fight him, remembering how single-minded pirates could get in pursuit of their treasure.

-x-

Li stirred, as usual, to the sound of a rather unsteady Jack trying to weasel his way out of a rather unstable situation.

"Parcel?" She added, thinking she could be helpful.

"Parley?" One of the pirates threatening Jack added just as tentatively.

"Tha's the one! Parley!"

"Parley?" Another seethed, looking more ready to shoot his companion than Jack. "Damn to the depths whoever thought of parley!"

"That would be the French." Jack smiled, lowering the gun.

"The French are dumb." Li sighed. "So when's dinner?"

"Dinnertime is in just a few moments," The angry pirate seethed. Li remembered, without knowing how, that his name was Pintel. "When we feed you to the captain."

She faded in and out of consciousness as they were forced along. She didn't feel worried, either because she was too tired to or because Jack was with her. His preservation instincts were too strong to fail them now. Even if he had to run naked through a monastery- which he'd done before -he'd get them out alive.

"Hey Jack!" Li crowed. "I remembered that thing you told me! About when I saw your ass!"

Jack winced, counted to ten, still felt like murdering Liash, and was then forced to abort this course of action because they were standing before Barbossa.

The years had not been kind to the mutinous first mate turned captain, although he was immortal now. He had never been a happy man, but now he was a haunted one. It showed in his eyes. Jack was counting on those ghosts to get them out of here.  
Li drifted in and out some more, convinced herself for a few moments that she was in fact in her math class, shouted out the quadratic formula, then came fully awake in time to hear Jack and Barbossa speaking.

"You know whose blood we need?"

"Aye. I know whose blood you need."

Li felt cold without warning. Jack would sacrifice Will to save them? She'd guessed his plan, but she hadn't believed in it. She didn't think he did either. Who were they to say their lives and their ship were worth more than his?

Li went aboard the Black Pearl, which her mind would swear she'd never even seen in real life before, and she was filled with the unmistakable sense of coming home. Arlen was just across the water, filled with the unmistakable feeling that while she was safe, she'd left the most important treasure behind.

A/N: Please send us your thoughts! Even if we are pirates we still want to know what you think !What has Jack done. Will Liash and Arlen see each other agian?


	7. Reunion

Chapter Six  
Reunion

"It wasn't your blood they needed." Will was saying in the candlelight. "It was my blood they needed. The blood of a pirate."

"Will, I'm so sorry."

Arlen winced at the sound of a hand slamming onto the table. After that was a disconcerting silence.

_I'd better check. For the sake of my shreds of sanity._

She knocked at the door.

"What?" Will snapped.

"...are you kissing?"

"...no."

"Oh. " With that, she sidled in.

Will and ELizabeth sat at opposite sides of a table, pointedly looking away from each other. The medallion that started this whole bloody mess lay on the table, winking in the candlelight in a smug testament to the destructive greed of men.

"What do you want, Arlen?"

"We left someone behind."

"...I'm aware of that."

"Will, the crew listens to you. Tell them to go back. We can't just leave-"

"They listen to you more. You tell them yourself."

"So you don't care about Jack. At all."

"He's a pirate." ELizabeth remarked.

"And that means we don't have feelings?" Arlen snarled back. "We're less than human? Well, the man you love is a pirate, so both of you have to get used to the idea."

Both of them blushed at such a frank statement of what they were trying to bury inside themselves. Arlen shook her head at them.

"Get on deck. They're coming, because we didn't go back for them."

-x-

"So, to sum everything up, what we've decided here today is that we're going to leave Barbossa of his own free will on an island and shout the name he needs to him?" Li said.

Everyone in the captain's cabin on the Black Pearl turned to look at the teenager pirate. Barbossa himself hadn't really noticed she was there. She was a footnote in his day, another prisoner to be dealt with in the great 'after.' when the curse was lifted. Now that he noticed her, his eye took in more detail than before.

"Wolf cub?"

"Aye."

Jack steamed. He'd spent the last weeks trying to convince her of who she was and in an instant Barbossa was able to recall Black Wolf from the depths.

"Well now, this is a surprise. We never did find the bodies." Barbossa shrugged it off. After. He'd deal with it after. "And did you ever find the young Star?"

"Who? Arlen? She's a star only in her mind."

Jack nearly threw the apple at her. One step forward, three steps back.

Barbossa raised an eyebrow and shook his head. Those girls were never quite right in the head. Death hadn't helped.

"Captain, we've caught up." The first mate said.

Everyone followed him out into the sunlight wincing. The sea foamed angrily about them. Surely enough, there was a ship on the horizon. It was the _Interceptor_.

"So why don't I scurry over there, talk to them, snag the Medallion and come back here." Jack said quickly, standing in front of Barbossa like he could make him forget that the ship was there at all.

"You know Jack, you never did learn that people are easier to search when they're dead." Barbossa smiled. "Take them to the brig."

Li looked over her shoulder at the retreating daylight in time to see Barbossa toss the apple out to sea, his shoulders tight with rage, and realize that she was in way over her head.

-x-

Arlen stepped on deck, Will and Elizabeth behind her, and felt her stomach clench at the sight of how much closer the Pearl had come. Her mind ran unconsciously through the motions of calculating the wind and glancing at the current, trying to discern if there was any way to preserve their fragile lead. She was continually forgetting that Jack and Li were on that approaching ship.  
While Arlen was debating with herself, Elizabeth had actually found a way to be more productive than she was. She was shouting to Anamaria about shallower drafts and reefs, and then Gibbs shouted: "Anything that we can afford to lose,see that it's lost." He used this as a transparent excuse to attempt to throw Arlen overboard, but she escaped and began to help with the unloading, steeling herself for battle and praying she could find what she'd lost before one of them got themselves killed. Jack she wasn't particularly worried about.

The battle went steadily from bad to worse even though a shot hadn't even been fired. Arlen stood in a daze, convinced that she knew what to do and at the same time paralyzed. She'd never been in a battle before, right?

She certainly remembered the terrifying still right before the cannons fired and the way she couldnít hear after they did. She tried to stay out of the way but everywhere is in the way in the middle of a battle, especially when a ship is boarded. All the pirates blew right by her, leaving her in a mostly clear space when she saw Li coming over.

"Will!" Came ELizabeth's shout.

"Elizabeth!"

"Monkey!" Jack cried, darting away.

"You!" Li and Arlen called, pointing to each other and meeting again on the _Pearl._

"I'm so sorry we left you!" Arlen cried, gripping her shoulders.

"Never mind that. We need to-"

It was at that moment that the battle halted. Jack was frozen nearby them, watching as Barbossa received the medallion from the monkey.

"Why thank ye, Jack."

"You're welcome."

"Not you. We named the monkey Jack."

At any other time, Arlen and Li would've been laughing. At that moment, they were too scared to.

"If even one of you so much as thinks the word 'parley,' I'll have your guts for garters." Pintel, pacing around the group as they were tied to the mast. The _Interceptor_ was shrinking across the blue sea. They still hadn't seen Will.

In an almost animalistic instinct, they all tensed before it happened. They all knew it would happen.

"No!" Elizabeth shrieked, slipping their bonds as the _Interceptor_ shattered under the force of the explosives. "Barbossa, you godless savage!"

He held her still, his hands white-knuckled on her arms, and grinned.

"Welcome back, Miss. You took advantage of our hospitality last time. It holds true now that you return the favor." With that he shoved her into the arms of the waiting pirates, who pulled at her hair and dress.

Arlen and Li froze side by side, convinced that they would be next. They were the first to notice when the drenched body leapt up onto the _Pearl's_ railing, outlined by the sun.

"Will!" Elizabeth whispered.

"Well,"Arlen sighed. "We're all back on the same ship at least."

A/N: So what did you think? Hmm? Soumds good but we both think you should make a reply. So R&R! Plus even if it is just one reply it would be the greatest thing of all time! You would be a hero I can't wait 9 days till Pirates 2! So forthe next couple of days chapters will be coming then to the second book! Later! Black Wolf & Lone Star


	8. Hell Hath no Fury

Chapter Seven  
Hell Hath no Fury

Arlen and Li were a little disappointed when Will began to state his terms. For one thing, they weren't mentioned in any of them. For another thing, he wasn't very good at negotiating. He just gave away their ace within two minutes of getting on deck and started asking all the wrong things.

"Elizabeth goes free."

"Yes, Will, we all know that one." The girls grumbled. Barbossa shot a brief glare at them; apparently he thought that was his line.

"Anything else?" He asked.

Jack pointed frantically to himself and the girls.

"And the crew. They are not to be harmed."

Barbossa smiled, a glint in his eye, and said "Agreed."

There was a commotion as the crew went about the commands, and in that noise the girls began to sneak away. They didn't get very far before Barbossa caught Arlen.

"Let me go!" She shrieked, attacking him.

"And what of this one, William Turner son of Bootstrap Bill? Is she not to be harmed?"

Arlen bit the hand over her mouth, causing Barbossa to swear and push her into the arms of the nearest pirate.

"She goes too!"

"Goes where?" Will asked, confused.

Jack seized Li and pushed her back amongst the crew. "You'll be safe here. Please, stay."

It was then that she noticed Elizabeth was being forced towards the plank.

"Barbossa, you lying bastard!" Will shouted just before he was gagged.

"Don't dare impugn my honor, boy! I agreed she'd go free but it was you who failed to specify when or where." He chuckled. "Though it does seem a shame to lose something so fine, don't it lads?"

Elizabeth hesitated on the plank even after they'd forced her to give up the dress. Then the big black man stepped on it, causing her to fall into the water.

"Well, lass, what will you do?" Barbossa smiled at her. "Will you plead for my mercy, or will you act like the Starre you are?"

Arlen looked to him with unmistakable defiance in her eyes, took a running start and leapt off of the plank.

Next Jack was pushed over to the long wooden board, a nervous look on his face.

"I'd really rather hoped we were past all this."

"Jack, Jack," Barbossa smiled, putting a companionable arm around Jack's shoulders. "Didn't you notice? That be the same little island we made you governor of on our last little trip."

"I had noticed."

"Perhaps you'll be able to conjure up another miraculous escape. But I doubt it." He leveled his sword at his old captain's throat, ready to be rid of the damned man once and for all. "Off you go."

"Last time you left me a pistol, with one shot." Jack negotiated quickly.

"By the powers, you're right! Where be Jack's pistol? Bring it forward."

"Seeing as there's three of us, a gentleman would give us at least a pair of pistols." Jack winced, praying it would work.

"It'll be one pistol as before, and you get the task of choosing which lady to shoot before starving to death yourself."

With that, he tossed the pistol over the side, leaving Jack to dive down after it. He swam with it clenched in his hands, his heart clenched tight around hate at the same time. When he reached the beach, Arlen and Elizabeth were already standing there.

"That's the second time I've had to watch that man sail away with my ship." He sighed. Well, no use crying over spilt milk. Moments later he hauled himself to his feet and started walking away. Bewildered, Arlen and Elizabeth followed.

"But you were marooned on this island before. We can escape in the same way you did then."

"To what point and purpose, young missy?" Jack growled. "Unless you have a rudder and a lot of sails hidden in that bodice," He checked the item in question briefly. "Unlikely, then young Mr. Turner will be dead long before you can reach him."

Arlen glanced down her own top. "I could get away with the whole rudder and sails thing."

Elizabeth glared at her, then resumed following Jack. He was doing some bizzarre sort of dance through the small forest of palm trees.

"But you're Captain Jack Sparrow. You vanished from under the eyes of seven agents of the East India Comapny. You sacked Nassau Port without even firing a shot. Are you the pirate I've read about or not? How did you escape last time?"

"Well, for one thing, it was three agents and not seven," Arlen began. "And he only did it because there was a hole in the bloody wall. And he only sacked Nassau because he bribed the garrison there. Most of the time he was just in the right place at the right time."

Jack glared at Arlen, feeling a bit peeved at having his secrets dispelled. Then he sighed and looked to Elizabeth again. "Last time, I was here a grand total of three days. The rumrunners used this island as a cache." He opened a door beneath the sand to demonstrate. "They came by and I was able to barter passage off. By the looks of things, they've long been out of business. You probably have your bloody friend Norrington to thank for that." He crawled back out of the hole, bringing with him two bottles of rum.

"So that's it then. That's the grand adventure of the infamous Jack Sparrow. You spent three days lying on a beach drinking rum."

"Welcome to the Caribbean, love." Jack smiled, handing her a bottle and sauntering off to drink himself into a stupor, which was the only state in which his mind actually worked.

As Elizabeth glared after him, Arlen sidled up to her.

"Do you have an idea? After all, he did insult us both. He insulted your breasts and me by not giving me rum. Let's get back at him."

Elizabeth nodded slowly. "Just don't do anything stupid, alright?"

"Why is everyone always saying that around me?" Arlen cried, following her nonetheless.

-x-

"We're devils, we're black sheep, we're really bad eggs, drink up me hearties yo ho! Yo ho, yo ho a pirate's life for me"

"I love this song!" Jack crowed. "And really bad eggs! When I get the Pearl back, I'm gonna teach the whole crew this song!"

"As long as they don't learn it tonedeaf like you did, we all survive." Arlen grumbled. She was a few feet away, tied to a tree, having absolutely no fun ay all.

"And you shall be positively the fiercest pirates in the Spanish Main!" Elizabeth crowed. Arlen had to admit, she was a good actress.

"Not just the Spanish Main, love. The entire ocean. The whole world. Wherever we want to go, weíll go. That's what a ship is, really. It's not just a keel and hold and a deck and sails. That's what a ship needs. But what a ship is- what the _Black Pearl_ really is -is freedom."

"It must be terrible for you to be trapped here, Jack." Elizabeth sighed, leaning on Jack.

"She ISN'T." Arlen growled to herself. "Oh, I am so telling Will about this."

"Well, the company is infintely better than last time. The scenery has definitely improved. "Jack said, slyly putting his arm around Elizabeth.

"Mr. Sparrow, I'm not entirely sure I've had enough rum to allow that kind of talk." Elizabeth smiled, pulling away.

"I know exactly what you mean." Jack grinned back, smoothing his mustache. Arlen tried her best to kill herself by hitting her head on the tree, which failed.

"To freedom." She raised her bottle.

"To the _Black Pearl._" Jack amended, raising his bottle and drinking so deep and so fast he fell down and didn't rise.

"Damn, woman." Arlen whistled as ELizabeth untied her. "I couldn't have done it better myself. I don't see why this whole tying up thing was necessary."

"It was necessary because you would've taken all the rum and probably attempted to actually kiss Jack." Elizabeth said, tossing the rope into the fire. "Now hurry. Who knows when he'll wake up?"

-x-

When Jack did wake up, he thought he was in a nightmare, or in hell. There was smoke all around him and the beautiful woman he remembered from last night was nowhere to be found. When he managed to stand up, he was absolutely certain he was in hell.

"No! No! Not good! You've burned the good, the shade, the rum!'

"Yes, the rum is gone." Elizabeth said harshly. Arlen was honestly starting to take Jack's side in this whole thing. She stood by the fire, wincing as she threw things into the fire and asked the pirate gods for forgiveness.

"But why is the rum gone?"

"One, it is a vile drink that turns even the most respectable men into complete scoundrels. Two, that signal is over a thousand feet high. The entire royal Navy is out looking for me. Do you think there's even the slightest chance they won't notice it?"

"...but why is the rum gone?"

"Just you wait Mr. Sparrow. An hour or two, keep a weather eye out, and you'll see sails on that horizon."

Jack took out the pistol and aimed it at Elizabeth, then remembered the man who had got them here in the first place and put it away, storming off.

"Oh, it must've been terrible for you to be trapped here Jack, must've been terrible- WELL IT BLOODY WELL IS NOW!" He had a headache and to top it off he had no idea what he;d done to anger two women so royally. He still didn't understand why Arlen went along with it.

Of course, that was when he saw the sails on the horizon.

"There'll be no living with them after this."

A/N: Another chapter done. Please make a comment any comment at least a nice comment. Another chapter will be on its way. Pirates honor.


	9. Full Circle

Chapter Eight  
Full Circle

"You missed a spot." Mr. Cotton remarked.

Pintel shoved the mop he was using at the bars of the brig. The crew of the _Interceptor_ had been shoved into the darkest, dankest part of the ship. They were tired, wet, and hungry, and all of them still found time to annoy their captors.

"You knew William Turner?" Will asked quietly at that moment. He alone seemed to have lost his spirit since they'd been captured.

"Old Bootstrap?" Pintel gave an odd half-smile. "We knew him. It never sat well with him, what we did to Jack Sparrow, the mutiny and all. He said it wasn't right with the Code. That's why he sent a piece of to you, as it were. He said we deserved to be cursed, and remain cursed.

"Stupid blighter." Ragetti muttered, his wood eye rolling endlessly in his head.

"Good man." Gibbs shot back.

Pintel chose to ignore the comment and looked back at Will. "Well, as you can imagine, that didn't sit too well with the captain."

"That didn't sit too well with the captain at all. Tell him what Barbossa did." Ragetti prodded his mate.

"I'm tellin' the story!" Pintel shouted.

"Well, you're not very good at it." Li muttered.

"Oh, we never missed you much, I hope you know. None of us lost any sleep when we saw that ship go up in flames." Pintel said vindictively.

Li winced at the sudden memory of searing heat, tears on her face, and Arlen's hand in hers. It left as suddenly as it came, leaving her as lost as ever. It had never occurred to her to try and get out of this mess. She still wasn't certain this wasn't a dream. At the moment she just cared about staying alive.

"So what the captain did, is he strapped a cannon to Bootstrap's bootstraps."

"Bootstrap's bootstraps." Ragetti giggled.

"The last we saw of ol' Bill Turner, he was sinking to the crushing black oblivion of Davy Jones' locker. 'Course it was only after that we learned we needed his blood to lift the curse."

"Now that's what you call ironic." Ragetti sighed.

"You knew my father?" Will asked Li.

"Oh, yea. Bootstrap was fun. He was the first one who got me to buy ice cream on Jack's account."

"Like father like son." Will muttered.

"Pirates aren't so bad, you know." Li began to say.

"And how would you know? You don't even know who you are or how you got here!" Will snapped. Li drew away, sitting in her corner of the cell, as struck by the truth of his words as he was by hers.

In that still moment there was the heavy clod of boots on the stairs. Barbossa stood in the doorway to the brig, his bulk filling the door.

"Bring them." He said, throwing the keys at Pintel.

Everyone realized that they must've been back at Isle de Muerta- right where they started.

A/N: Short chapter but another is on its way. Please people reply! If you send me your stories I will read and reply if you do it for us! Pirates Honor! LOL! So please respond I know people are reading or at least people are and I'm not going crazy like Arlen. (Hehe)  
Black Wolf


	10. One Last Shot

Chapter Nine  
One Last Shot

"I don't like the situation. Any attempt to storm the caves could turn into an ambush." Norrington sighed.

According to Jack's luck, he had been the one to save them from the island. Jack was starting to get severely annoyed with his constant capture in the past few days. At least he was holding up better than Arlen, who was sitting in the boat looking thoroughly peeved. Norrington hadn't wanted to bring her, but no one else seemed to want her but Jack.

"Not if you're the one doing the ambushing. Look, I go in, convince Barbossa to send his men out in their little boats. You and your mates go back to the Dauntless and blast the bejesus out of them with your little cannons, eh?" He put a companionable arm around Norrington's shoulders. "What do you have to lose?"

"Nothing I'd lament being rid of." Norrington said stiffly, moving Jack's arm like it was something distasteful.

"You know, you really could be a little more polite!" Arlen shouted. "Jack is even nicer than you are! You're always acting like you have a stick up your-"

"Will someone please gag her?" Norrington hissed. It was done. She still didn't shut up, but at least the obscenities were a little quieter.

"Now to be quite honest with you, there's still a slight risk to those aboard the _Dauntless_, which includes the future Mrs. Commodore." Jack added delicately.

"And you know, I still don't see how she could even begin to consider sleeping with you even if it saves Will's life."

"How did she get out of the gag?" Norrington nearly growled. Mullroy and Murtogg just pointed at each other. Jack smiled, knowing all too well that Arlen never stayed quiet for more than a couple minutes, gag or no gag.

Later, by virtue of their combined annoyance, Jack and Arlen were in a boat together rowing into Isle de Muerta.

"I told you my constant talking would save our lives someday." Arlen said smugly.

"That you did, Lone Star." Jack chuckled.

"Jack... do you really think I am who you think I am?"

"Well, that depends on who you think I think you are."

"I don't know." She sighed. "I really don't know anymore."

Within a few minutes they were pushing through the crowd, who looked at them like they had risen from the dead.

"Excuse me, pardon me, coming through..."

"Begun by blood... by blood undone..."

"Jack!" Will cried. He was being held over the stone chest, Barbossa's knife at his throat.

"It's not possible." Barbossa groaned.

"Not probable." Jack corrected.

"Please don't make me do probability problems right now," Arlen groaned. "I'd rather die than do another math class and I soo failed the probability exam."

"Where's Elizabeth?" Will asked.

"She's safe, just like I promised. She's all set to marry Commodore Norrington, just like she promised, and you get to die for her just like you promised. So really were all men of our word, except for Elizabeth who is, in fact, a woman."

"No shit, Sherlock." Arlen muttered.

"Shut up! The two of you are next!" He leaned in to slit Will's throat.

"What? What did I do? You always liked me!" Arlen cried.

"Actually, I always liked Black Wolf better." Barbossa grinned.

"You don't want to be doing that, mate." Jack pointed to the knife, ignoring Arlen's jilted mutterings.

"No, I really think I do."

"Your funeral." Jack sighed, clasping his hands behind his back.

"Please, I'm tired of funerals. Or threatened funerals. Or even just talking about funerals." Arlen whined.

"Will you shut UP?" A nearby pirate cried, drawing a knife. Arlen calmly seized his arm, twisted it around and shoved him to the ground.

"By the way Jack, I studied fighting some more while I was away." She smiled.

"I'll keep that in mind." He said dryly.

"Now, why don't I want to be doing this?" Barbossa asked, sounding just as tired.

"Because the _H.M.S. Dauntless_, pride of the Royal Navy, is floating just outside waiting for you."

The cave was instantly filled with noise as the pirates debated about what to do.

"Okay, what happened?" Li asked as she sidled in. She'd found a couple swords in the piles of swag and was carrying them around. Arlen waved her over to her side and then stole a sword from her.

"Thank god you're here. Jack was starting to get annoying."

"Just hear me out," The annoying pirate in question said. "You order your men to row out to the _Dauntless_. They do what they do best. Robert's yer uncle, Fanny's yer aunt, and there you are with two ships. The makings of your very own fleet.

"Of course you'll take the grandest for your flagship, and who's to argue? But what of the _Pearl_? Make me captain. I'll sail under your colors, I'll give you ten percent of me plunder, and you get to introduce yourself as Commodore Barbossa. Savvy?"

"I s'pose in the exchange you want me not to kill the whelp."

"No, by all means, kill the whelp."

Both Arlen and Li looked awestruck. "You can't kill our pillow!" Jack chose to ignore them.

"Just don't kill the whelp yet," He continued. "Wait to lift the curse until the opportune moment. For instance," He ran his hands lovingly over the gold, and lifted a few pieces. "After you've killed Norrington's men." He began to drop them, one piece at a time. "Every, last, one." Unknown to everyone but Will, Li and Arlen, he slid one carefully into his sleeve.

"You've been planning this all along," Will snarled, catching on for once. "Ever since you learned my name."

"Yea." Jack replied blithely.

"I want fifty percent of your plunder." Barbossa decided.

"Fifteen."

"Forty."

"Twenty-five. And I'll buy you a hat. A reeaally big one. Commodore?"

"We have an accord." They shook hands. Jack had to keep down his disgust at touching the man who'd betrayed them all and destroyed the life he had. He swore to himself then that when his last shot was fired and Barbossa lay dead, he would begin setting everything to rights. Starting with those two girls.

"All hands to the boats!" He cried, eager to get started. "My apologies. You give the orders." _For now. _

"Gents? Take a walk." Barbossa smiled his constant smile, and the pirates took off.

"Not to the boats?" Jack asked hopefully.

"No, Jack. I think they're taking a walk up your butt." Li said dryly.

With the men gone, they sat down to relax- as much as that was possible -and wait.

"So will you keep the girls with you, Jack? Or shall we share them like the treasure? I never did hear of their fathers again after the _Running_ was destroyed."

"Oh, I'd imagine that's up to them." Jack replied, idly playing with some of the treasure about them.

"Oh, please. As if you ever ask our opinion on anything." Arlen grumbled.

"You know, I should probably give you to our new Commodore. You could probably learn more from him." Jack shrugged.

"You know Jack, I thought I had ye figured. But it turns out that you're a hard man to predict." Barbossa said with a measure of respect.

"Me? I'm dishonest. And a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest. Honestly, it's the honest ones you want to watch out for. Because you can never predict when they're about to do something... incredibly stupid." With that, he drew a nearby sword and threw it to Will.

"You know, Arlen," Li muttered. "I do believe Jack just called himself and honest man." With that, they drew their swords and plunged into a fight with the remaining pirates.

Barbossa and Jack's struggle finally came together as they began to fight. Years of resentment, hatred and paranoia culminated into a fantastic duel. Arlen and Li watched whenever they could, but they were wrapped up in their own struggle. It was wonderful to be fighting, because for now they could forget the confusing question of who they were and why the hell they'd ended up here.

"You can't beat me, Jack." Barbossa was saying. Jack let his sword talk, and drove it home into the captain's stomach. Barbossa gave a dramatic sigh and pulled the sword out, replacing it in its owner's stomach.

Li gasped and Arlen actually screamed. It didn't matter that they'd seen Jack take the medallion only minutes before or that they weren't supposed to really know him. In those few moments before he stumbled back into moonlight and his flesh melted away into ragged clothes and white bones, they were convinced the world had ended.

"Now that's interesting." Jack remarked to himself, playing the medallion back and forth between his knucklebones. "I couldn't resist mate."

The fight continued. Jack too was lost in his own world, fighting as he had the night when he lost everything, from his ship to his goddaughters. Barbossa could barely stand up to such an emotional onslaught.

"So what now, Jack Sparrow? Are we two immortals locked in an epic battle until Judgment Day and trumpets sound? Hmm?"

"Or you could surrender."

"Oh, please." Arlen murmured. She stood a few feet away with Li. "Pirates never surrender."

They continued on, working with Will to keep the others busy, and prayed that Jack actually had a plan this time. It would've been nice if he'd shared it, but they had to trust him instead. With Elizabeth's entry they sensed the change, and knew their trust was well placed. The battle shifted imperceptibly. Jack managed to get away from Barbossa, cut his hand and throw the medallion to WiIl.  
Taking advantage of his distraction, Barbossa aimed a pistol at Elizabeth. She gasped, and there was the sound of a gun being fired. But it was Barbossa who looked the most stunned, who turned to see Jack's gun smoking.

"Ten years ye carry that pistol and all yer hate and now you waste your shot?"

"He didn't waste it." Will replied, calmly dropping two bloodied medallions into the chest.

Barbossa froze and looked down to his chest in time to see a slow, deadly gush of blood down his front. He staggered and gave a faint smile.

"I feel... cold."

Without knowing why, Arlen and Li rushed to his side as he fell. Li produced the apple she'd hidden in her pocket.

"Take a bite. I remember how much you loved them."

Barbossa tried to take it. It had just touched his lips when his hand went slack and it rolled away from him. He died with his eyes open, a strange sort of peace in his eyes.

Jack approached and looked down at the body. He felt the same as Arlen and Li did; he felt relief at the death of an enemy, at the passing of ten years of strife, but at the same time he felt no happiness. After all, it was a death. At one time he'd been a good man.

"What now, Jack?" Arlen asked.

Jack put one arm around her and one arm around Li.

"We go home, lasses. At last."

A/N: Please make a comment. Anything will do. There is only one more chapter left! Until the second book. Which I can promise is amazing! More excitement and a huge fight scene. So the more responds we get it will be up even faster! Thanks so much for reading this!  
Black Wolf and Lone Star


	11. The New Beginning

Chapter Ten  
The New Beginning

Home turned out to be the gallows. None of them were strangers to it; they'd seen friends hung there and they'd escaped it more than once before. Arlen and Li stood in the crowd, feeling helpless as they listened to Jack's crimes being read. Any other time they might've laughed, but now? Now they felt closer to crying. They were trapped between two worlds, and he was their link. If he died, any answers they'd been seeking would be lost forever.

Will and Elizabeth, and even the Commodore, had promised they would help the girls find out what happened and how they could save them, but they wanted Jack.

"This is wrong." Elizabeth echoed their sentiments.

"Commodore Norrington is bound by the law. As are we all."

At that moment, another familiar face pushed through the crowd and rejoined them. Li glanced up and then gave Arlen a shake. She pointed to the parrot sitting on top of a flag nearby them and then to their favored pillow. Arlen smiled, and realized what was happening.

"Governor Swann. Elizabeth. I should've told you ever day from the moment I met you: I love you."

"Oh God. Whenever someone says that it means they're about to do something-"

"Incredibly stupid." Li finished with a groan. Trust the whelp to do one such thing now. The best laid plans could always go wrong.

There was the heart stopping moment when the lever was pulled and Jack plummeted, but it was followed by the sound of a sword striking wood. Deciding that even if it was a stupid thing to do, they'd join sides with Will and leapt at the gallows, cutting Jack down. They seized the rope along with he and Will and ran like hell, tripping up soldiers and commoners alike. This was where they belonged. They were home.

They almost got away with it, too. They got all the way up to the tower before they were caught.

"I thought we might have to deal with some manner of ill-conceived escape attempt, but not from you." Norrington sounded almost betrayed as he looked at Will.

"On our return to Port Royal I granted you clemency. And this is how you thank me? By throwing in your lot with him? He's a pirate!"

"And a good man."

Jack pointed proudly to himself and then gestured to the girls.

"What about us?" Li asked. Arlen was too busy playing with the feather in Will's hat to notice the deep philosophical conversation going on around them.

"If all I've achieved here is that the hangman will earn four pairs of boots instead of one, so be it. At least my conscience will be clear."

"Easy for you to say." Arlen mumbled, losing interest in his feather the moment she realized her life was on the line.

"You forget your place, Turner."

"It's right here. Between you and Jack."

Elizabeth came to stand beside them.

"As is mine."

"Elizabeth! Lower your weapons. For goodness' sake, drop them!" Governor Swann cried. They listened to him. Arlen and Li began to believe that they might actually make it out of this alive.

"So this is where your heart truly lies, then?" Norrington asked after swallowing.

"It is." Elizabeth replied softly.

There was a soft cawing noise and a bird flew overheard. Jack smiled at the sight and prodded the girls.

"Well, I'm actually feeling quite good about this. I think we've all arrived at a very special place, eh? Spiritually? Ecumenically? Grammatically?" He turned to Norrington. "I want you to know that I was rooting for you, mate. Know that. Elizabeth, it never would've worked between us. I'm sorry. And Will?" He grinned. "Nice hat. Shall we, girls?" With that, he took Arlen's arm. He tried to catch Li's too, but she pulled away.

"Li, what are you doing?" Arlen asked.

"How can you be sure that this is where we're meant to be?"

"I just know. Please, just come with us."

Jack continued backing up with Arlen.

"Friends! This is the day that you will always remember as the day that-" With that, he and Arlen toppled off the top of the wall and into the water below.

"Idiot!" Gillette cried. "He's nowhere to go but back to the noose!"

"Sure, he's an idiot," Li smiled. "But he's our idiot." With that, she too jumped.

"So what's your plan of action? Sir?"

"Perhaps on the rare occasion the right course demands an act of piracy. Piracy itself can be the right course."

-x-

There was a spray of sea and sunlight as the three pirates were hauled on board the deck of the _Pearl_. They looked around them and smiled.

"I thought you were to keep to the code." Jack said to Gibbs.

"We figured they were more guidelines than actual rules." He grinned.

"Amen to that." Arlen said fervently.

Jack received his coat and his hat and then went to stand at the helm. With a slight tremble, he put his hands on it and took control of the _Pearl_ for the first time in ten years. Arlen and Li stood at his side.

"Where do we go from here?"

Jack smiled. "To that horizon." _To everything we lost. _

"Hey, Li," Arlen called as they were running across the deck. "Jack taught me the most awesome song the other day. Want to hear it? It goes 'yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me...'"

The words had never felt more true as they sailed into the sunset, the wind at their backs and everything before them.

A/N: This would be the end of this story. But not the end of the journey of Black Wolf and Lone Star with Captain Jack Sparrow. Please **_REVIEW_**! Thanks so much for those who have and the next story which is called The Forgotten Isle will be up in a few.

silverwolf of the night & Countess Verona Dracula


	12. trailer

Hey everyone. Just a preview of what is going to happen in the next story The Forgotten Isle. Hope you all could check it out! Thanks!

-Silverwolf and Countess Verona Dracula

(Open on black)

V.O.: Legend speaks of a forgotten isle, somewhere in the Caribbean,

(As this begins, show shot of camera gliding over the waters of the sea)

V.O. (cont.): where all lost souls linger in agony, doomed to this fate for eternity.

(Flashes of zombie sailors with eerie screams)

V.O.: There it is forever night, forever darkness.

(shot of the black water on the beach with blood in it)

V.O.: Legend also speaks of a messiah with two lives who would know the secret of the Isle and would save the lost souls by bringing to it eternal day.

(Flash of the sun)

(Black)

V.O.: History herself wrote this. She just forgot to mention there could be two messiahs.

(cut to Black Wolf and Lone Star dropping their bags, eyes open in shock. POTC theme begins)

(Montage of misc. shots.)

Lone Star V.O.: I feel like I'm two people at once... I'm so lost.

(shot of Lone Star holding her head, crying)

(Shot of Lone Star swimming away from the wreckage, clutching to BW)

(Shot of Arlen and Li in present day, laughing)

(Shot of Lone Star screaming, being stabbed)

Captain Jack: Meet you fathers.

(Shot of Lone Star and Black Wolf, eyes wide)

Black Wolf+Lone Star: Our what's!

Captain Caylyn: Captain Caylyn Starre.

(various shots of Captain Caylyn)

Captain Hank: Captain Hank Wolfe.

(Various shots of Captain Hank)

Black Wolf (dark look): I don't like this...

(Cut to Lone Star shouting at the crew)

Lone Star: Am I the only one that sees? It's the Isle!

(Montage)

Lone Star V.O.: We stand a chance at defeating this curse, let's take it!

(Montage of scenes having to do with the Isle. Fighting, them sailing, running, ect.)

Words on screen: Johnny Depp (shot of Jack)

Ewan McGregor (Shot of Captain Caylyn)

Hugh Jackman (Shot of Captain Hank)

Sheila Murray (Shot of Black Wolf)

And Melanie Kokolios (Shot of Lone Star)

(Quickly flashing montage of various shots, growing gradually faster until they blur and suddenly cut to blackness.)

Words on screen: This Summer...

(Flash of rowboat shooting towards the Isle, Captain Jack, Black Wolf and Lone Star, clinging to it, screaming as they near the rocks. Cut to black)

Words on screen: Prepare to be blown out of the water

Words on screen: Pirates of the Caribbean: The Forgotten Isle

(Black)

Lone Star(whispers): Oh bloody hell...

(Roll credits)


End file.
